


Initial D: Tora! Tora! Tora!

by Margrave_of_the_stars



Series: Initial D: Tora! Tora! Tora! [1]
Category: Initial D
Genre: Cars, Fast Cars, Gen, Initial D in America, JDM, Project D, Racing, Street Racing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-27 00:03:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 42,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12569180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Margrave_of_the_stars/pseuds/Margrave_of_the_stars
Summary: Covertly funded by the Takahashi family fortune Ryosuke takes Project D to America in the hopes of establishing them as a dominant world force, and to put the finishing touches on the development of Keisuke Takahashi, and Takumi Fujiwara.





	1. The Competitors

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer! I do not own Initial D, or any characters here in, except those of my own creation

 

"It sure seems like there's no more good competition here anymore?" Mike Sarazin asked, as he lowered the hood on his Electric Green Cobra kit car with white Le Mans stripes.

"Yeah, well you guys beat up on all the kids who think big rims and a coconut thrower exhaust makes a Civic a performance car." Molly, Mike's girlfriend, responded, leaning against her 1966 Sunbeam Tiger. Her car was Cobalt Blue, and was running more than Ford or Sunbeam had ever intended, all thanks to some help from Mike and his friend John Durren. The Tiger was running an early '70s Ford 302ci V8. Mike and John had set to work, replacing the stock cam, port and polished heads, and a custom bent high flow exhaust. Backing the 350 horse motor was a Tremec five speed, balanced driveshaft, and a Ford Nine inch rear end with Limited Slip.

"Maybe we should go hunting for some new guys to race?" John Preston said, as he replaced the dipstick on his Factory Five Racing Spyder GT kit car. Painted in the Shelby Black with Gold Le Mans stripes like the Hertz GT350. The less restrictive engine compartment allowed for better mods on the presmogg 302, than on the tight engine bay of the Tiger, allowing the Spyder to make close to 400 hp, with a supercharger.

"Don't bother, I herd there are some guys from Japan running around eating up the local racers." Chuck "Fox" Bail responded. His nickname coming from the 1993 Ford Mustang that he drove, 1993 being the last year of the Mustang on the Fox platform.

"Yeah, do they have a Skyline with them?" Mike asked.

"I dunno, from what I hear it's a couple of RX-7s, some kind of Japan only Nissan thing, I herd called and S14, and something that the tuner kids called an AE86. It must be pretty good from what they were saying, it sounds like some kind of super machine." Fox answered.

"If it's as good as they make it sound, then why haven't we herd of it?" John cut in.

"I dunno, I'm just telling you what I've herd."

"Alright, people, lets get going." Mike shut the door on his car, and fired the motor. 351 cubic inches of Ford V8 roared to life, and then settled down to a visceral burble exiting from the sidewinder exhaust, a slight sucking sound coming from underhood as the four twin choke Webbers drew in air. Mike notched the Tremec five speed gearbox into first and gingerly applied the gas, with more than 400 horsepower on tap the rear wheels were liable to light up with just a hint of to much gas. "Let's go find these Japanese All Stars.

* * *

 

The members of Project D plus one sat around a table in a diner, staring down at half finished food.

"It's a wonder not all these Americans are fat, they eat so much of this heavy food." Nakazato said with disgust. He had begged Ryosuke to allow him to come to America with the rest of Project D, Ryosuke had intended to invite him. The torquey monster that was his R32 GT-R would be well suited to tangling with American V8s.

"Maybe that's why they don't know how to drive." Takumi added. "Itsuki can drive better then these people."

"Or how to modify a car." Kenta Nakamura interjected. "I hope they realize putting a big muffler and body kit on a four door Civic DX doesn't make it a race car."

"Cool it Kenta." Ryosuke said in his usual calm manner. "Fumihiro has some encouraging news."

"Yeah," Fumihiro said popping an other homefrie into his mouth. "Apparently the best drivers around here are from Medway, a team of four that call themselves the Dukes of Windsor. I haven't been able to find them or where they race but. . .if you guys keep doing what you're doing I'm sure they'll turn up."

"Oh great so we can beat up on some more Civics and castrated Integras." Keisuke said with disgust.

"No, no. they drive American performance cars. The leader drives a Shelby Cobra kit car, they also have a Mustang a Sunbeam Tiger and an other kit car called a Spyder GT, that I don't know about."

The other members of Project D sat silent, almost stunned.

“What's a Cobra kit car? Or a Sunbeam Tiger?" Takumi asked absentmindedly.

"The Cobra and the Tiger were British roadsters that some American had the bright idea to put a big V8 into. They're fast but nose heavy." Ryosuke said. "The kit car usually works off of the idea that there is an other car that is donating a large amount of its parts to the kit, usually the motor, driveline and suspension. I think the most popular one in a Cobra kit is Mustang equipment."

"Which means the kit car inherits the same problems as the donor car." Keisuke added

"Huh, so it's fast." Takumi said.

"Can be."

"First we need to find you guys some good gas, not the 93 octane stuff that they have all over the place." Matsumoto said.

"Yeah the FC isn't running right."

"And it needed to be detuned a little to run on this crap."

"That's alright, we'll beat these archaic pushrod motors and outdated suspensions with our technologically superior cars." Keisuke said getting fired up at the prospect of proving his skills on a new continent.

"We'll see brother." Ryosuke said

* * *

 

_That night, Wendy's in Milford._

"I don't see 'em anywhere." Mike said, as he sat on the curb next to his Cobra.

"Maybe they hear we were lookin' for 'em" Fox answered.

"Yeah, no." Mike said exhaling smoke. "These guys came all the way here from Japan, they're serious racers, they're not gonna turn tale and run just because they 'hear' we're lookin' for them."

"Guess we'll just have to find somebody else to race tonight, if you boys still feel up to racing?"

"Hey, how long have you been driving with us Molly?" Fox asked jokingly.

"Like two years." She responded.

"And in all that time have you ever known any of us to turn down a race?" Fox said as if he were lecturing a two year old, he missed the flash of rage in her green eyes.

"No." She finally responded.

"Good, then you won't start now." Someone called from behind the group. Mike was the first to see the challenger, a young man in his early to mid twenties, with light hair, and lanky build. Mike rolled his eyes and took another drag from his Lucky Strike.

"Here we go again." Mike rolled his eyes at John.

"Nope, won't stop now." Fox answered, taking a step forward. "Especially since we almost never lose."

"You're cocky, if I don't knock some humility into you the boys from Japan will."

Molly watched Mike for his reaction; he cocked an eyebrow and watched the challenger with a little more intensity than he had been before. She knew Mike was itching to race even the worst member of the Japanese team; it was a chance to prove himself, to prove that he could stack up against racers from all over the world. She'd known Mike for a long time, and one thing was always the same, he was a fierce competitor, as long as she'd known him he'd never lost, and he was willing to do absolutely anything to win.

"You know the Japanese racers?" Mike finally asked.

"Yeah, I know them. I raced the driver of the S14 almost. . ."

". . .In English jerk." Mike cut him off.

"Alright, the driver of the Silvia, almost beat him too, all those guys are absolutely awesome. They're not out tonight cuz they can't find the right gas to run in their cars. They won't run right."

"Well you tell them to go to Hillside Automotive on Medway, they'll find what they're looking for" Mike said.

The other scratched his head, "I'll see what I can do. Now what about the race? Or do I have to wait to beat up on your POS Mustang?"

"Oh, tough guy." Fox laughed. "He must think he's Eric Straton or someone. What Japanese cracker box do I get to smoke."

"You ain't smoking nothing, my Eclipse is packin' more than you think." The other said pointing over his shoulder to the blobby early '90s Mitsubishi Eclipse. Most of it was painted black, except for the body kit, which was still primer gray, it sat on ridiculously oversized rims, with monstrous exhaust tip poking out awkwardly from underneath the rear bumper. "She's got a cat back exhaust, 4 into 1 header and an upgraded computer chip."

"Woh, I'm shaking." Fox threw up his hands in mock fear. "Let go, Granite street to Farm street in Bellingham over the 495 bridge."

"You got it I won't even know you're back there after the first couple of turns." Fox turned on his heels and headed for LX notchback Mustang.

"Looks like we got another Fast and the Furious wanna be." John said sitting down next to Mike and Molly on the curb.

"He's trying to bullshit us." Mike said. "He doesn't know the Japanese allstars."

"Come on boys, we better get to the finish line before everybody else."

"Right." Mike stomped out his cigarette and hopped into his car.

* * *

 

_Granite Street Medway._

Granite Street in Medway, is typical of New England back roads, built along the cowpaths and stone walls, narrow cut through the thick forest, with houses lawns and intersecting roads interspersed almost randomly. Fox sat in his Mustang, the windows rolled down. He could smell the unburnt high octane fuel coming from his exhaust pipe, and he knew his baby was running right. He listened to the engine with a slight lump in it from the aftermarket cam, the motor was built to rev! Fox contemplated the imitation Le Mans stripes that the previous owner had installed, he'd herd it from Mike way to many times, they were to far apart, not the scant inch or two that the graced the topside of Mike's Cobra and John's Spyder GT, they were a good six or seven inches apart.

The other driver finally showed up in his Eclipse, backing down the slight runoff at the end of Granite Street. Fox pushed the gas down a little bringing the revs up. The Eclipse stopped next to him and did the same, sending the small motor over 4000 revs, the exhaust note sounding like a fart. Fox took a closer look as his opponent's car, it wasn't even one of the all wheel drive models, the air dam of the body kit was still primer gray, and sporting the black markered inventory numbers. Fox scoffed, just another poser tuner kid trying to look cool. The Challenger revved his motor again, making another rising fart sounds. Mike stabbed the accelerator, sending the Ford 5.0 V8 rumbling.

"Huh sounds like you got a kazoo shoved up you tailpipe." Mike scoffed again.

"Yeah, well you'll be listening to the kazoo all the way into Bellingham fool!"

Fox looked to the starter standing on the lawn to the left, the Eclipse was between Fox and the starter. He slotted the transmission into first gear, as the starter raised his hand in the air.

  1. . .2. . . 1. . . GO!



As soon as the starter dropped his hand Fox punched the accelerator, and popped the clutch. Tires squealed briefly as the Ford V8 roared into action. It was joined almost immediately by the high pitched whine of the 4 cylinder Eclipse.

Fox jumped out to an early lead, the small displacement motor just didn't have the torque to keep up with the Mustang. Fox knew that the driver of the Eclipse was no where near himself in terms of skill or the balls to take the car to the limit. It was only a short distance to the first set of turns. The trees rushed by outside Fox's car less than six feet from either side of the car. Fox moved his car as far to the left as he could without dropping a tire on someone's lawn, to set up for the first turn. The lights of the Eclipse glinted in the rearview mirror and Fox knew he wasn't going to get passed. Heel-and-toe downshifting to second gear allowed Fox to enter the tight right hand turn smoothly, and linking it into the left hander that followed quickly on it heels.

The headlights were gone from the rearview as Fox accelerated down the short straight away before setting up for the next set of S turns. The whole time the road was going slightly uphill, once through the second set of S turns Fox pinned the accelerator to blast to the top of the hill.

_He's gonna try and pass me through here._ Fox thought as the headlights glinted in the mirror again. The upcoming section was mostly straight, but covered by quickly undulating hills that didn't allow for maintained high speeds. Houses and lawns continued to break up trees on the right side of the road only. Fox got hard on the brakes as the level road took a sudden drop, Fox had driven the same course countless times before, he knew exactly where to break to prevent the suspension from unloading to much. He lost his stomach as he punched the gas heading down the hill, he laid on the power until near the middle of the next small but steep hill before jumping on the brakes again. The headlights got bigger and brighter as the Eclipse closed in on the Mustang.

_Woh tough guy it doesn't take any skill to go fast in a straight line._ The headlights shuddered as the Eclipse came down hard on the suspension. Fox jumped on the brakes near the top of the third of five hills, the Eclipse was getting closer, but Fox remained cool. Hard on the gas for a little while and then back on the brakes to crest the next hill. The Eclipse screamed past just inches from Fox's Mustang, going airborne as it cleared the top of the hill. Fox stayed on the brakes as he watched the other car sail through the air, it almost cleared the top of the next hill, but missed by only inches slamming the front valance of the body kit off the top of the hill, pieces of the body kit broke off, one of them hitting off of Fox's windshield and continuing over the back of the car.

He's seen it happen before.

The other driver downshifted and leaned hard on the gas, opening up a small gap between the two cars. _Have your fun know, I'm still gonna win this one_ Fox thought as he stomped the gas and upshifted, the mighty Ford V8 surging forward, as the thundering exhaust resonated through the still night forest. The Eclipse was two car lengths ahead by the time Fox put the hammer down at the bottom of the last hill. The slightly faded red Mustang roared up to the bumper of the Eclipse, the exhaust not changing under deceleration.

The road was still to narrow for Fox to pass safely, and looser like the kid in front of him would probably try blocking and wrecking both cars. Especially with trees on both sides, and a stone wall lurking behind some trees off to the right it was no place to try high speed maneuvers. Brakes lights lowed from the back of the Eclipse, Fox jumped on the brakes, stabbing the accelerator with his heel and downshifting as the two cars setup for the 90 degree right hand turn at the end of Granite Street. Fox shook his head as glanced and saw the speedometer needle drop below 20 mph. Fox shook his head _to slow,_ he thought, _dumb kid trying to race a front driver!_

Both cars swung onto Farm Street, Fox knew the spot to make his move was coming soon. The Mustang followed close behind the Eclipse, Fox could have run away from the Eclipse on the last turn, but didn't want to risk the other driver coming down on him if he had taken the inside line. The Mustang followed close behind the other car through a series of gradual S turns, after which the road widened as it took a gradual left up and over Interstate 495. There was no way the Eclipse could match the power from Fox's Mustang a modified Eclipse might have been a different story, but no four cylinder could match the torque output and acceleration on demand of the modified High Output 5.0. The Eclipse driver moved towards the apex of the turn, to straighten the line, Fox on the other hand downshifted smoking the tires in third gear and accelerated out around his opponent over the bridge.

Mike, Molly, and John were waiting in the parking lot of a nearby warehouse when Fox pulled up in his notchback.

"Good work buddy." Mike said, lighting another cigarette.

"I don't know why I even took that race. That kid had nothing, stock motor, with one of those coconut thrower exhaust tips." Fox said with disgust as he closed the door.

"Because we never turn down a race." Molly quoted, cocker her head to the side.

"Very funny." Fox responded. "The stupid kids with their goddamn micro machines, and half motors! And would somebody please tell these kids that front wheel drive SUCKS for racing!"

"Cool it Fox." John said between uproariously laughter, Fox was somewhere between genuine anger, and critical humor, of the local tuner kids. "This isn't anything new, they run their B16s and SR20DETs, put a body kit on the car and think it's a performance machine. They're just misguided youths that have never been show real performance cars and are just trying to imitate what they see come out Hollywood." John said, the whole time his speech speeding up as he got excited.

"Same shit different day." Mike said, "Tomorrow, we'll leave the cars at the barn, and everyday until our Japanese Friends show up."

"What makes you so sure they will?" Fox asked.

"They're looking for high octane gas, we're the only place around here that sells the stuff they need, not to mention I said it loud enough so half the fucking parking lot could hear. They'll turn up sooner or latter."

"But Mike its supposed to be wicked nice out the next couple of days." Molly whined.

"Yeah, well these guys probably know what cars to be looking for, not who." Mike's eyes narrowed.

"And even if they knew who to look for we probably all look the same to them anyway." Fox joked, sending John into another fit of hilarious laughter. "What are you worried about anyways. We'll take them out just like every other group who drives Japanese cracker boxes." Fox said.

"No these guys are different."

 


	2. Enter The Drifter

_A few Days later_. . .

The exhaust note jumped up an octave as Mike punched the throttle exiting the last turn on the Populatic Street course. Clutch, shift third gear, and the big Windsor was just hitting its stride at 70 mph. The cool early morning air whipped over the windshield and through Mike's dark brown hair. So many races had been one on this stretch of road, for it was the beginning and the end of the Populatic course. There were cars that Mike had beaten off the line and had such a big lead by the second turn that the rest of the race was just a formality. Then there were the races when he'd been passed and managed to keep up with the other driver, out accelerating the other car coming out of the last turn. Most of the competitors with smaller displacement motors couldn't match the torque provided by 351 cubic inches (5.8L) of Detroit Muscle.

The needle on the reverse throw speedometer edged past 100mph before Mike began to slow down, enjoying the simple freedom supplied by driving excessively fast in a convertible. He stopped in the parking lot of the abandoned warehouse at the end of the street. He shut down the car before stepping out, taking care not to touch the superheated sidewinder exhaust. Mike lit a cigarette and looked through the trees to the eastern horizon. The sun was just pushing through in a brilliant display of orange, red and yellow. The whole time the cooling motor and exhaust were making metallic ticking sounds.

Mike looked back down at his pride and joy, his Electric green Cobra, sure it was a kit car, sure it wouldn't be worth as much as a real Shelby Cobra, and the performance wasn't as earth shattering, but it was his. He had spent so many hours working to save money for the kit, and then the different components that would be needed, and once that was done he spent countless more hours putting it together, and once that was done, even more hours adjusting the suspension, the brakes, but it was worth it, it was his, no one else could say that, and there were very few people that could say their car was as unequivocally theirs as Mike's Cobra was his.

There had never been another possibility for him though, he had grown up around cars, his father driving a 1982 Mustang GT, his uncle driving a 1967 Corvette Convertible. One of his first words had been carburetor. Many of his earliest memories involved the car show that his family ran in town, there was always a good mix, from Model T Fords to Lamborghini Countachs. Cars were in his blood, they were something to be cared for like a child, and exercised like a professional athlete. Growing up around cars and some of the best machines to come out of Detroit influenced Mike from an early age. There was just something about the raw power of cubic inches, the aroma of smoking tires, the bellowing exhaust, and the sheer exhilaration of being pinned back in the seat under extreme acceleration.

Japanese cars were all well and good, they built some very good, very fast automobiles. Mike wasn't as religiously anti Japanese cars as Fox was. There was nothing wrong with an RX-7, 300 ZX, Supra, or the like when they were well done, even in stock form they were good cars, they just couldn't match the felling that Mike got from driving something with a massive V8 under the hood. The sun was much bigger by the time Mike finally pulled himself away from his reminiscing, a bright red ball in the sky.

RED!

Like the rising sun of the Japanese flag, they were still out there, and they would be gunning for him and his team sooner or latter. _I should have pushed harder!_ Mike thought tilting back the Boston Red Sox cap that he always wore. _I can go faster! I need to go faster! Nobody comes around here and is gonna show me up on my home turf. Not on the course that I laid out!_ Mike blue eyes narrowed as he stomped out the cigarette butt.

* * *

 

_A few miles away, in Milford._

"You know that reminds me of home." Ryosuke said, leaning against his car as he smoked a cigarette.

"Yeah." His younger brother responded looking at the bright red sunrise as well. "It makes me feel as if we can't afford to fail."

"Of course we have intention of winning, the problem is the way they race over here."

"What with poorly modified cars, not to mention that for the most part they drive like jerks anyways." Keisuke said with disgust.

"There is of course that." Ryosuke said maintaining his composure. "But something tells me these Dukes of Windsor aren't like that. The real problem is that we have to be ready to race on any of a number of courses at the drop of a hat. I've herd mention of at least five or six different courses in the area. We have to start training, and training hard."

"Jeez, I thought you might lighten up on another continent. Don't forget that we have to get some of the locals to show us these places before we can do anything." That was his brother, all the worlds' problems could be solved by intensive training and cryptic secret plans.

"Yes of course, but Kenta dispatched that kid in the Eclipse easily."

"He did, I used to hate how we had to wait until we were 18 to get our drivers license, but if this how we would have driven I think it was worth the wait." His brother didn't respond right away, taking a drag of his cigarette and looking at the ground before speaking again. It made Keisuke feel a little strange, and he knew that Ryosuke was going to give him some news that he didn't want to hear.

"I know you want to race here, but I think I want Takumi to take the next race, I want to see how he copes." Keisuke shrugged but didn't respond, biting back a reply or any of the number of reasons he should take the next race instead of Takumi. "The problem around here." Ryosuke started again, "Is that most of the places these kids race are on old narrow roads, that don't leave even the slightest margin of error while drifting."

"And that's Takumi's strong point." Keisuke supplied all too quickly. "That's why I should take the next race."

"That's right." Ryosuke said, keeping his composure as his brother continued to loose his. "But Takumi has so much natural talent that I know he can adapt to gripping corners as opposed to drifting everything he comes across. I bet there are places where drifting can also be executed, it'll be the combination of the two styles that will yield the fastest times." The elder Takahashi paused for a second. "I want to Takumi to take the next race so I can keep and eye on him the first time out, I know you want to be a professional racer, and Takumi lately has been the biggest challenge to you, but I know that you can figure this out on your own, but Takumi will just go into a race thinking he can drift all of the turns around here like he did on the mountains back home, and he'll wind up going home in a neck brace, minus one well prepped AE86. I have confidence in you, that's why I want Takumi to go first, because I know you can handle yourself." Ryosuke said looking fondly at his younger brother.

"Yeah let's hope he doesn't wind up in the trees." Keisuke uttered.

"He needs to adjust and he can do it, he has as much natural talent as any of use, the difference is he just need someone to show him the way."

"Right." Keisuke sighed.

* * *

 

Takumi was driving the 86 down Beaver St. in Bellingham. It connected from Hartford Ave, to route 109 in Milford near where the members of Project D were staying. Ryosuke was riding shotgun, it was supposed to be an easy drive to familiarize Takumi with the course.

"I don't know if I can get used to this driving on the wrong side f the road." Takumi said absently, going about 30 miles per hour.

"Yeah I know." Ryosuke responded, "It won't matter when we're racing though. I brought you out here because you're going to need to adjust to the different set of challenges."

"Right." Takumi answered knowing he had to be on top of this.

"This isn't going to be like racing on the mountains, there's not a lot of space on these roads to drift, the margin for error is next to nothing. I think the best approach is to grip most of the corners, and only drift when there's lots of room. No reason to come all this way to wreck the 86."

"This reminds me of the time I raced in Saitama, against Wataru." Takumi said as the 20 valve motor sung along in third gear. "The poor road conditions and the banks on the side, not to mention how narrow the roads are." He said.

"You raced in Saitama?" Ryosuke asked.

"Yeah, like I said, it was a lot like this, but I never mentioned it because it was before you came to me with your proposal, for the Project."

Ryosuke didn't respond, he knew Takumi had won, he always won, but this fit with his education of Takumi well. Another thought flashed through Ryosuke's supercomputer brain. Takumi had said the roads were narrow, like the one they were on now, and it was before Ryosuke had been able to help Takumi's burgeoning talent, he would have drifted all the corners, maybe he would be able to do it here too.

Takumi glanced in the rearview mirror, and spotted the bright orange Z32 300 ZX rocketing up behind them. Takumi kicked the clutch, and downshifted, the modified 4A-GE changing its tone completely. Ryosuke was stunned for a second as his head swiveled around looking for what caused Takumi to do this.

"Takumi, take it easy, you've never raced here before. You should try and grip more here than drift." Ryosuke said quickly.

Takumi though and agitated side long glance at his mentor. "Just let me drive." He ground out. The other car closed the gap, with a high speed rolling head start on the 86 it wasn't to hard.

"Alright, be careful though, there's a side street that goes through an industrial park that'll still be crowded at this time of day."

The road opened up approaching a set of lazy uphill S turn. The Z32 shot by on the outside of the 86, charging up the hill. Takumi simply straightened the line through the S turns instead of drifting, it wasn't needed and he knew it. The bright orange car was only a little ways ahead and Takumi knew he could catch him.

Ryosuke now recovered from his split second stunning focused on the bright orange car roaring ahead of them. The driver set up for a moderate right hander , tapped the brakes and went full bore into the corner, it leaned heavily, probably a result of its weight. Ryosuke lost sight of the car for a second as Takumi set the 86 into a drift, it was best not to disturb Takumi while he was driving. Ryosuke held tight as Fujiwara worked his magic. He followed very close as the two cars rounded a gradual left hand turn, it opened up to a long climbing straightaway, and the 300ZX got a little bit of room, courtesy of 3.0L of turbocharged V6. Takumi put the hammer down and followed closely.

Ryosuke focused on the other car ahead of them, running up his mental chassis dyno, there were discernable modifications to the suspension. It all went so fast though, the straightaway ended in a much tighter pair of S turns going downhill, Takumi drifted the first one, G-forces squeezing Ryosuke against the door, then just as quickly it reversed sending him leaning towards the middle of the car. The two cars charged down and other straightaway and emerged at the end of the industrial park road. The last stretch before they came back to the main road was wide, and well paved. Once upon a time it had been a two way road, but now it was a one way.

Takumi gripped the first slight left hand turn, setting the 86 into a drift as the turn tightened into the seconds left. Takumi rode the outside line as the Z32 driver moved to the inside line, tires squealed, engines revved as the 86 overtook the 300ZX on the outside. Takumi then inertia drifted into the last right hand turn, slowing down on exit as they came back to the heavily trafficked main road. Ryosuke realized that Takumi could drift the 86 anywhere, anytime.

* * *

 

"Where the hell are these foreign tuner punks?" Fox grumbled. It had been nearly a week since Mike had told them not to drive their cars to work. "I'm tired of leaving the 'Stang at home and having to drive my Taurus, it's to nice out." Fox stood just under six feet, of stocky build with dark hair.

Molly looked up at the piercing blue sky, it was one of the nicest days of the summer so far. The four friends stood in the relative shade of the garage bay, waiting for customers who wanted gas, or a repair. Mike Fox and John were mechanics, they had finished the days work and now had to wait out the rest of the day.

"I haven't seen them anywhere. If their around they're not racing." Fox grumbled again.

"Well Fox, its not like their gonna have the rising sun painted on the side of the car." Mike said. As soon as he said that a loud rumble was heard from down the street. As the sound grew louder Mike looked at John and then to Molly, they all knew who it had to be. The first car to the pump was a white RX-7, followed by a yellow late model RX-7, an old Toyota Carolla, a red Nissan product that Mike didn't recognize, and at last a black Skyline GT-R. Mike looked closer at the white RX-7, obviously the leaders car, on the flank was a sticker that read; Red Suns, with a bright red sun in between the words.

"What was that about the Rising Sun?" Fox asked with a cocky grin.

"Alright, shut up." Mike said as he walked over to the lead car. The driver got out from the opposite side of the car. He struck Mike as tall for an Asian, well dressed with black hair. He came from money that much was apparent, but then again, you would almost have to, to undertake what they were here to do.

"Hi there, what can I do for you?" Mike asked as he approached.

"I heard we could high octane gas here." The other responded.

"Well I got 94 octane at the pump here and one around back with 102, but your cars are to new to run it." Mike said, he knew full well though that Japanese Domestic Market cars could.

"We run 102 octane back home in Japan." The driver of the white RX-7 responded. By now all the other drivers were out of their cars, they all looked to be somewhere in their twenties, accept for the driver of the Carolla, he seemed to be still in High school. What a lucky kid, touring the world to race cars still while still in High School.

"Alright then, as long as you don't come back and sue me if your cars aren't running any more. I'm Mike Sarazin, and I bet I'll be seeing a lot of you guys." Mike said extending his right hand.

"Takahashi Ryosuke, call me Ryosuke." The other said grasping Mike's hand firmly. "Why do you think you'll be seeing us a lot?"

"We're the only place around here that sells high octane gas."

"Wait you mean to tell me that all these cars around here are running 93?" Ryosuke said with a mixture of surprise and disgust.

"Most of them don't even run that, people like to buy 87 octane because it cheep, disgusting isn't it?"

"Yes it is, so about the gas?" Ryosuke said.

"Right, there's a pair of pumps sitting down around the side of the building." Mike pointed. "It's full serve."

"Thank you." Ryosuke responded getting back into his car and pulling it down the side of the building, the other cars followed.

"John, get down here. We need to pump some gas." Mike called back to the bay. Mike popped open the gas door on the white RX-7. Ryosuke stepped out of the car and over to Mike.

“Fill it up." He said.

"So you guys are from Japan? What are you doing around here?" Mike asked.

"Racing." Ryosuke responded. "We dominated our Prefecture back in Japan, and thought the next big step in proving ourselves was to come to America."

"Sounds like fun, I'd like to get a chance to race in Japan." Mike said, and then realized that he might have given himself away, quickly he came up with something to distract the other, before he realized what Mike had said. "So what do you think so far."

"You mean besides not being able to find good gas. I'm rather disappointed, there's a lot of people running around with big rims, and giant exhaust tips and think they can run with real cars."

"Huh," Mike scoffed, "You're telling me."

"That and having to tune our cars in parking lots."

Mike's ears perked up at the thought of that, he quickly got an idea. "I could rent you guys one of our bays, we never use all five bays during most weeks. You'll have access to everything we have, tire machine, compressed air, and lifts, I'm sure that'll help. Of course this hinges on the fact that you guys try to stay out of way and don't interfere with out money making."

Ryosuke looked sidelong at Mike before answering, mulling over the proposition in his head. "How much?" Ryosuke asked cautiously.

"Seventy-five dollars a week, American." Mike responded, "If your gonna race you should at least be able to have decent facilities."

Again Ryosuke didn't respond right away. "Alright, sounds good."

"Great, now lets get to know you're guys." Mike said slapping Ryosuke on the back.

"Alright." Ryosuke said, with no where near the same amount of enthusiasm that his American counterpart displayed. "This is my brother, Keisuke, one of our aces. Fujiwara Takumi, our other ace, Nakamura Kenta, a member of the Red Suns, he does video, and other things, Nakazato Takeshi, Fumihiro, my right hand man, and Matsumoto."

Mike looked them over, the driver of the other RX-7 was clearly the leader's brother, despite the spiked and bleached hair. The others how ever, just seemed to be like any other team, a group of drivers. What surprised Mike the most was the two youngest drivers, Kenta and Takumi, they both appeared to be still in or just recently graduated from High School, and the fact that Takumi was one of the aces, while their were clearly older, more experienced drivers on the team, he has to be something special. Mike thought.

"What's going on?" Keisuke asked his brother in Japanese.

"Mike is going to allow us to rent some garage space and give us access to power tools." Ryosuke responded in his native tongue.

His brother held back his initial agitated reply, he didn't want to give his emotions away Mike, he didn't understand Japanese. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" He finally asked instead. "He could be giving information about us to the local racers."

"You know me better than that brother, of course I realized this." Ryosuke responded coolly. "But he's giving us access to tools compressed air, and lifts. Because until we face the team that he's given information too we'll be better prepared than we would otherwise."

"It doesn't matter how much information he wants to give to anyone, we're still better than anyone around here." Keisuke responded.

"That we've run into yet." Ryosuke reminded him.

"Besides, as long as I don't have to lay on my back to change the oil in my car, I'll be happy."

"He said we can have one of the bays out front. We need to start to prep for this weekend, when the people come out with their cars. We're going to Beaver Street tonight. Takumi wants to take on that guy in the Z32, if he can find him."

"So Takumi's car first?" Matsumoto said as he walked over.

"Yes." Ryosuke responded. "I don't think it needs much, but just to be prepared."

"Alright Boss, I'll get it in the bay as soon as its full of gas."

Once the cars were filled with gas Mike and John went back to the office of the station.

"What are you doing Mike?" John asked with surprise.

"What do you mean?" Mike asked, putting on his best innocent, hurt look.

"You're renting one of our bays to them. You're making things easier on them then they need to be. . ."

"What, you don't think we can beat them? I don't know about you, but I wouldn't feel as good beating some guy who tried to tune his car in a hotel parking lot." Mike paused. "Besides, it let's us keep an eye on them, and find out some things that might help."


	3. Black Prancing Horse

Takumi rolled into the parking lot of the industrial building where most of Project D was waiting. He had just completed his fifth run down Beaver Street. It was almost midnight, and had to be close to quitting time Takumi hoped as the 86 came to a stop. He had been pushing himself harder and harder lately; he had to keep up with Keisuke, who was pushing harder than he ever had been before. Especially since Ryosuke would want to be at the shop early the next morning. Takumi stepped out the 86 and joined the rest of the group. Ryosuke looked up from the charts he had laid out on the hood of the FC.

"That was the best time you ran tonight Takumi." Ryosuke said. "You didn't see any other cars did you?"

"No, it's late though." Takumi responded.

"Yeah, I know, and we've got to be out early tomorrow morning."

None of them noticed the headlights or the ghostlike movement of the police cruiser as it moved towards them The Spotlight swept over the group twice, momentarily blinding the members of Project D.

"Good evening boys." The gruff voice came from the cruiser that had stopped behind Ryosuke's FC, and the 86. Takumi jumped, Ryosuke on the other hand turned slowly around, they all turned to him.

"Nothing really officer, just having some fun with our cars." Ryosuke said.

"You know street racing is illegal, and dangerous. We've had a lot of bad wrecks on this road here." The officer said. He looked just like all the other Americans except for his smart blue uniform.

"We know it's dangerous, that's why we're out here at night, trying to cut down on the risk to other people." Ryosuke said diplomatically, of course it didn't hurt that lat at night they had free reign over the roads unlike during the day.

"Alright boys, I can see you're not from around here." The officer said sternly, "And I didn't catch you boys doing anything wrong, but this is an industrial park and the owners don't want people hanging around here late at night, they think you might be breakin' in." He paused, and no one responded. "Were you boys racing?" He asked very sternly.

"No, sir. No one out here to race, we've just been timing each other."

The officer didn't respond write away. "How fast" He finally asked his tone changing.

Ryosuke looked over his shoulder. "Takumi just ran it in 3:28."

"Wow." The officer mouthed. "I used to race here myself when I was younger, we never timed each other but I know that's fast. Just be careful boys, and don't hang around to lat at night. You boys be safe." The Crown Vic moved off silently and Takumi felt his heart pounding in his chest.

"That was close." He said.

"Let's call it a night." Ryosuke said stepping to the door of his car.

* * *

 

Mike downshifted coming down the hill towards the gas station. It was early in the morning; he had to open the station before the morning rush hour. As soon as he pulled the car into the lot he saw the Japanese racers milling around the garage door bay. Mike revved the motor up as he passed them on his way to parking around the side of he building.

"Morning boys." Mike said as he walked up with the keys to the garage.

Kenta looked over at him and spoke first, saying what all the others were wondering.     "What kind of car is that?" He asked quickly.

"It's a Ford Taurus S-H-O." Mike said as the lock clicked.

"Sounds really strong for a Taurus." Ryosuke added.

"Yeah, stock it came with 220 horsepower, but I've bumped that up a little bit."

"Really what's it running?" Keisuke asked.

"DOHC 3.0 litre V6." Mike responded, "The only complaint I have is that its front wheel drive, but it's really quick for a sedan."

Ryosuke lifted an eyebrow, not just anybody realized the benefits of rear wheel drive, he thought. He knew of course that Mike had to have some interest in cars, or else he wouldn't run a repair shop.

"Keisuke, get the FD in the bay first." Ryosuke ordered.

Mike was just unlocking the front door when Ryosuke walked through the door from the garage.

"Morning, is there something you guys need?" Mike asked.

"Just a little info." Ryosuke said. "Do racers around here always get hassled by the Police?"

"Definitely. There's a lot of people around here, and they don't like to be disturbed by loud cars." Mike answered. "The other thing is that we have too many cops with nothing to do, especially at night."

"You mentioned you don't like that your car is front wheel drive why?"

"Lots of reasons." Mike said setting up the cash register. "There's no way to get good header for it, it a pain to tune the rear bank of cylinders, the inherent unbalance of front wheel drive, but most of all the friggin' shifter, it's very balky, and makes quick shifting really tough."

"It sounds really strong though." Ryosuke offered. "I bets its surprised quit a few punk racers.'

"Yeah." Mike chuckled. "Nobody ever expects to get their door blown off by a white Taurus."

"Especially those kids who think a body kit and big rims makes something a performance car."

"You're tellin' me." Mike said and he realized where Ryosuke's line of questioning was taking them, he was trying to figure out where Mike stood in the local racing scene. "So what are you guys doing over here.?"

"We've been racing in the mountains back home for a long time. I thought it was a good idea to go race different people, different cars, different driving styles, to improve us as racers."

"Cool, I can respect that. So are you guys like professional racer or something?"

"No, we're just street racers, but we've got some guys with high expectations." Ryosuke offered noncommittally.

"I wish you guys the best of luck." Mike said.

"Thanks, now I have to get to work."

"Boy I'd like to have your job." Mike called as Ryosuke walked back into the garage.

* * *

 

"Geez, look at them go." John said leaning against one of the gas pumps.

"Yeah, I wish we had the business to stay the busy." Fox responded. "To bad their only tuner cars. If these guys had put this amount of time and effort into a real performance car can you imagine what they could accomplish?"

"Yeah I know." John answered. "Hey look at that they're using a computer to tune their cars. Last time I checked the only thing we used them for was to read codes."

"Oh come on boys they're from Japan, and you know they didn't sell the Mustang and Camaro over there." Molly added. "And could you imagine how hard it would be to get parts for one if they had it?"

"I know, you gotta go with what ya know." Fox responded offhandedly.

"Wonder if they've found anything our about us?" Molly asked.

"It's bound to happen." John answered in a whisper. "There's too many people who know our names around here. They're smart kids, they'll be able to put two and two together eventually."

"Yeah, except maybe for that kid who drives the Carolla, he always seems to be spaced out, he must have ADD or something." Fox cast a sidelong glance in the direction the garage bat, the 86 was sitting just outside with Takumi leaning against the door runner. "See look at him now."

"I still don't understand why they brought along an old Carolla." Molly said.

Mike walked over to where Takeshi Nakazato was working on his GT-R. Mike looked at the black monster, reported to be among Japan's ultimate world beaters. It was aggressive, with crisp lines, rear fender flairs, spoilers, and a semi-fastback roofline. The long hood-short deck reminded Mike of an early Mustang coupe. But what made this car so special? It looked like for all intents and purposes that it could just be a regular two door coupe. But plenty of cars had come out of Detroit with that same basic package. The Ford Thunderbolt, Plymouth GTX, 427 powered Galaxies, 409 Chevrolets, Novas, it was a proven performance formula.

"So this is the infamous Skyline?" Mike said. "I've been hearing about these for a while, wonder why they don't send 'em over here?"

"I don't know. Why doesn't Ford send the Mustang to Japan?" Nakazato retorted.

"Touché." Mike answered. "So what's the deal with this thing?"

"What do you mean? It's a performance car." Nakazato answered, with a hint of contempt in his voice.

"Well I gathered that, otherwise I don't think it would have gotten the reputation that it has. I mean what it run? What's the drive train, suspension, what makes it so special?"

"Alright, give me a second." Nakazato said as he put the right front wheel back on. He blasted it with an impact wrench and lowered the car off the jack. "First of all it got an RB26DETT six cylinder." Nakazato said before popping the hood.

"OK, in layman's terms, cuz I've never run across one of these."

"Sure. It's a 2.6 litre double overhead cam twin turbocharged six." Nakazato lifted the hood and Mike took his first look on some of Nissans finest handiwork.

"It's a straight six!" Mike gasped once he got past all the turbo plumbing.

"Yeah, I've modified it a little too, oil cooler, waster gate and exhaust. The other thing with these cars is its all wheel drive, offering the best stability, and great launches."

"So what's it put out?"

"Close to 400 horsepower." Nakazato responded proudly, standing slightly straighter and sticking out his chest a little.

"So how do you fit in with these guys, you're car and that Carolla are the only ones not wearing a Red Suns sticker? What is the kid with the Carolla one of your support guys or something.

"Nah, Takumi's one of the aces. Me though, well Ryosuke thought my car and driving style would be more suited against American racers. I'm still secondary to the Double Aces."

"The Double Aces?" Mike asked, he knew it was important, but Mike tried not to force his hand, but he had to find out who the Double Aces were and what made them so special.

"Yeah, Keisuke, and Takumi."

"Huh, I would have figured that you with this machine would be one of the stars. The thing I don't get is the old Carolla. I mean since when is a Carolla a race car?"

"You mean the 86, well it's no normal 86." Nakazato said. "And Takumi is no normal driver. That car has a TRD group A rally motor. And Takumi is that fastest down Mount Akina. I'm sure he'll do well over here."

"I'm sure." Mike said mulling over what he had just herd. "I look foreword to watching you guys run. Good luck."

Mike made his way over to where the 86 was sitting just outside the garage bay. The yellow RX-7 was up on the lift. Instinctively Mike walked up to the left hand side of the car before he realized it was right hand drive. He peered in the window anyways and noticed a set of gauges sitting on the center stack, and one sitting on the steering column. Mike walked around to the other side to see what it was. His eyes almost popped out of his head when he saw that it was a tachometer that counted past 11,000 revs.

"Hi." Takumi said after he noticed Mike standing near the car.

"Oh hi." Mike said. "So how are you guys doing out here?"

"I guess we're doing ok." Takumi responded, "Except for getting hassled by the police last night."

The kid seemed almost to be in a daze as he answered Mike. And the wheels started turning in Mike's head, if this kid was as much of a space shot as he appeared to be, maybe he was the best way to get info about Project D and what they were doing in America.

"Yeah, tell me about it." Mike eventually responded. "Where were you guys last night?"

"I'm not really sure, it was near the hotel where we're staying."

Well that meant one thing. The only hotel in the area was in Milford, and if it was near there it was most likely Beaver Street.

"So what this writing on the side of your car, some sort of speed shop, or racing team name?"

"No, it's just the name of the tofu shop my dad runs. "I've been doing the deliveries over Mount Akina for years now."

"Cool, I used to run and pick up parts for my dad before he left and had me take over the shop." Mike paused, "So what's the deal with this car?"

"I don't really know. It's got a new motor. It's really the only car I've ever raced." Takumi said. "I love it."

"I hope you guys find what you're looking for around here." Just as Mike finished that sentence there came the unmistakable sound of a decelerating V12. Next came the high pitched horn in a succession of toots and a bright red Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Spyder rolled into the parking lot. All eyes shifted to the ultra exotic car now standing in the presence of some of Japans finest street racers. All the members of Project D stood at the mouth of the garage bay.

"Hello Raul." Mike called, "Looking for some gas?"

"No, no Michael. The Bambina shesa not runnin' good." The driver responded with a heavy Italian accent. He was tall, with longer hair. He wore tinted aviator sunglass, and a white scarf was around his neck.

"That's not good Raul, you've been buying cheap gas. Your Bambina, needs the 1-0-2." Mike joked.

"I know Michael, but you charge a so much for it." Raul responded in the same manner. He stepped out of the car, and threw the white silken scarf around his neck. "Listen to her Michael, the Bambina isa not happy."

Mike listened to the motor, the mighty four cam V12 burbled, the idle dipped, and then climbed, sounding as if it was about to stall. "Yep, it that cheap shitty gas you've been buying. Put it in the middle bay, she needs the Webbers tuned."

"Alright, what ever you say Michael." Raul stepped back in the car to pull it into the bay. Once the car was settled in the bay Mike popped the hood and set about disassembling the air cleaner and induction setup covering the Webbers that sat atop the V12. Once all that was done he started to tune the idle circuit.

"What is that thing?" Takumi asked.

"It's an older Ferrari." Ryosuke responded, his eyes narrowed and focused on the emblem embedded in the nose. The black prancing horse across the yellow background.

"I wonder how a second rate shop like this pulls in a Ferrari?" Keisuke wondered out loud.

"I know why." Ryosuke said with an ominous tone in his voice, "I'll tell you latter."

"Geez Raul, how long has it been since you've had this thing tuned? The idle circuit is out to lunch." Mike said with disgust, "You need to treat this machine better. Such a fine automobile needs someone who can take car of her. You sell it to me." Mike poked Raul in the ribs a couple of times as he joked.

"Me, sell my Bambina?" Raul looked playfully shocked. "Never! And she would only be second to you Bambina. Hey, uh, Michael, where isa your Bambina?"

Mike snapped around glaring at Raul. "Don't talk about it." Mike hissed, I can tell you latter on, say at Uno's tonight."

"Alright Michael, I will see you there. Now spin this thing around and get it on the dyno."

Mike worked on the Webbers while Raul ran the motor through the rev range. All the time both of them were keenly aware of the fact that more than one member of Project D was watching them from the next bay over. The wonderfully crafted Ferrari V12 sang through the RPM range, screaming at high RPM, and burbling as it came back down out of the stratosphere. Mike loved the symphony of the exotic motor; it was like Beethoven or Bach to the pounding fast, visceral Alice In Chains, or Metallica of the motor residing in the engine bay of his Cobra.

Mike stood up straight, arching his back, feeling more than hearing the pops. He gave Raul the thumbs up before unshackling the car from the dyno. Raul gave the accelerator one more jab the ripped silk sound echoing off the concrete walls of the garage. Mike walked out of the bay after the brilliant red convertible.

"Michael, come for a ride with me in the Bambina, let us see a how good you're a handiwork is." Raul offered.

"What do mean 'see how good it is?" Mike said sarcastically. "Of course it's good; you know I'm the only one who's ever got that finicky thing to run right around here."

"Of course Michael, but please, indulge me." Raul offered the passengers seat to Mike.

"On one condition." Mike said cocking an eyebrow.

"Yes?"

"You fill it with good gas, the 102 I got stashed around back."

"But Michael, it is a so expensive."

"What that I hear Raul, something is too good for your Bambina." Mike cupped a hand to his ear. Raul stood up straight and scowled at Mike.

"A no no no! Nothing isa to good for my Bambina!" Raul declared. He stomped his foot before getting into the car and pulling it around the side of the building. Mike smiled to himself, Raul was always so to play like that.

"Hey, Raul." Michael paused. "Gumball." Mike smirked.                                            

"Hey, a why don't we, you can be Bannon, and I will be Franco Bertolini. It will be just like a the Gumball Rally."

"How 'bout I'm Franco, and you be Bannon." Mike responded.

"But Michael, I have a the Ferrari, and you have a the Cobra, it only makes sense."

"Ahhh." Mike responded disgrunteledly. "What ever." With that Raul gave the motor some gas, and the Ferrari moved cleanly out of the gas station lot.

Raul accelerated hard up the hill, running the marvelous car up to fourth gear, the whole time Mike could feel the pressure pulling him back into the leather seat. The smooth symphony of the motor wailing away as it climbed through the RPM band.

"So Michael, when did you a get a whole bunch of new workers?" Raul asked.

"No no, they're not new workers; they're this team of Japanese racers looking for a challenge around here. I figured if I let them rent out a bay I could watch them and figure out if they're much of a challenge."

"So what do you a know so far Michael?" Raul asked, casting a side long glance at Mike.

"Not to much, accept that one of their aces drives a Carolla with an exotic motor, and the other one drives and RX-7. Me and the guys are gonna go watch them this weekend, see how good they really are."

 "And your Bambina, is she a not ready to face them? Or are you just hiding her so they can not find out what you have."

"I don't want them to know more than they do already. I'm sure that they've already found out almost all the information that they need, but I don't know, I just want to leave one more element of surprise, not to mention the fact that once they know that my team is the fastest around here I bet they leave, and then I loose $75 a week. Not that it's a huge deal."

"I don't think you're a gonna have a problem with them. I didn't a see anything that could beat you're Bambina."

"I know." Mike responded. "But they seem like good guys so far, I don't know how long I want to keep this up."

"Michael, you must, you have a something that allows you an edge in a race. You must not tell them what is going on." Raul said firmly, with an almost comedicly severe scowl.

"Alright, let's get back to the shop. I do still have work to do."

Mike got out of the car and lit a cigarette. Raul came storming from around the driver side.

"Michael, the Bambina, she is a beautiful." Raul exclaimed the last word rising to a crescendo before Raul grasped Mike around the neck and kissed him on both cheeks in true Italian fashion.

"Yeah, I know." Mike said as soon as Raul released him.

* * *

 

Ryosuke and his brother sat in their hotel room, watching the video of Beaver Street. Keisuke watched, but the whole thing just washed over him. What his brother had said earlier that day was still bothering him. Hoe, yet again could his brother figure something out that others had failed to see.

"Brother, what were you talking about earlier? About how the shop attracts cars?"

"Oh, that's simple. Mike is not the average mechanic that he and his friends seem to be." Ryosuke responded.

Keisuke lifted an eyebrow, knowing that he was going to hear all the evidence behind his older brothers reasoning.

"You saw the car he was driving, right?"

"What, that white four door? What's so special about it?"

"It's a high performance version of a normal sedan. Latter on when I asked him about it he said he would rather have rear wheel drive, but he hasn't gotten around to measuring everything to see if it would work. Only a real driver would consider something like that, your normal driver would look at it and so the factory should have done it. But Mike is saying what he would like to do."

"Ok so he knows something of good cars, and how to make something better, but wanting to do something and actually doing it are two different things." Keisuke said getting a little agitated, sometimes he wished his brother would just get to the point.

"Ah, but who the hell brings in a Ferrari around here, this is just some small little cow town, and he, of all places pulls in a Ferrari. They obviously know each other, but would you take the FD to a friend if he didn't know how to deal with it as well as somebody else?" Ryosuke asked. "Not to mention the fact that Webbers are notoriously hard to tune. That takes skill, patience, and a whole lot of know how."

"True." Keisuke responded, knowing he was being lectured again.

"Right, and you herd the difference he made in that exotic motor. And h e did it without a computer, or even a shop manual. He knows what he's doing, and someone who know that much about cars has to be connected to the local racers." Just then there was a knock at the door. "Come in." Ryosuke said, and Takumi and Nakazato entered. "What's up guys?"

"Well. . ." Nakazato began. "Mike was poling around my car today, asking me questions about it, and then he started asking about Takumi's car. I didn't think about it much at the time, but I think he's feeding information to some of the local racers." Nakazato looked down in shame, he had given up information about Project D.

"I told you Ryosuke! They're spying on us and feeding information to the Dukes of Windsor!"

"Calm down brother." Ryosuke said raising a hand.

"I think he was just interested in the cars." Takumi offered. "I mean, they don't send the GT-R over here, so I bet he was just curious about it. Wouldn't anybody at home be curious if all of the sudden someone showed up with something from America that they'd never seen before?"

"Yeah, but they got the 86 here although they probably don't remember it. E's spying on us!" Keisuke began again.

"It's alright. Did we ever say that the element of surprise was important? All we can do is prepare like we always do. Back home in Japan everybody knew about us, so why does it matter if anybody know anything about us? We'll win, just like we always do. Not to mention that a little something to scar some people isn't bad." Ryosuke grinned.

That night Ryosuke lay awake in bed. His supercomputer brain refused to shut down for the night. The whole time mulling over the facts that he had heard about Mike. Every once and a while a truck would scream by on the highway abutting the hotel. Just as he was about to dose off he had and idea. Ryosuke flicked on the light and scratched out his plan on the pad of paper on the nightstand. As soon as he was done he turned off the light and fell to sleep, the whole time not disturbing his brother.

 


	4. Ryosuke's Realization

It was early in the morning, just after sunrise when Takumi left the parking lot of the hotel to go drive Beaver Street. . . again. He knew Ryosuke would probably be drilling them yet again that night. Takumi knew that part of his early success back home was due to the fact that he knew the Akina downhill like the back of his hand, from driving it for years on tofu deliveries. No amount of time here would give him the same advantage that he had back home, but he would be competing against people who had learned to drive and race here. He had to be ready to compete here, he had to be in top form to best the people who knew this course like he knew Akina. That was why he had agreed to come to America. To race, to test his skills against other racers, with different ideology. If he was going to become a professional racer he had to be prepared to face any type of driver at anytime.

That was why he was here, it was one more step on his way to becoming a professional racer. He knew if he worked hard enough he could do it. His eyes narrowed and he stepped on the accelerator letting loose the silver top 4-AG motor. He knew that he couldn't do what he normally would at night, but even if he gripped all the turns at a lower speed it would still give him a better feel for the road, a feel for the rhythm. _Matsumoto has done an awesome job again._ Takumi thought. The suspension was perfect, the motor sang, and Takumi knew he would succeed, he k new that there was no one he had yet seen that could beat him. Nobody.

Takumi was beginning to realize that his success in Japan had been for many reasons, but most importantly his father. Years ago it had been his father who needed him to do the delivery. He had made driving a chore, a chore that Takumi needed to do in the middle of the night. Bunta had to know that this would make Takumi want to finish his chores as fast as possible, he knew that it would result in Takumi developing incredible driving skills. There was also another added incentive for Takumi; Sleep. It was not just the indirect prodding of his father to develop his driving skills, but the fact that the 86 was what it was directly resulted from Bunta. Even before Bunta transplanted the Silver Top motor he had tuned the old one, he had modified the suspension and set it up for mountain racing. His father played as much a role in Takumi becoming a star racer as Iketani, or Ryosuke. Takumi did not want to let his father down.

Deep within Takumi a fire burned, fueled by his dream to become a world class racer, his drive to succeed for his father. Takumi rounded a bend and hit the accelerator hard, the tachometer climbed as the engine pulsed louder and faster his heart rate jumped, climbing in unison with the motor.

 

* * *

 

The 86 rolled into the gas station and Takumi pulled straight down to the high octane pumps, the needle on the gas gauge hovered somewhere between ¼ and empty. Just as he had expected the rest of Project D was already at the garage. Hopefully Ryosuke would not be mad at him, he never seemed to get mad unlike his brother. Takumi walked over to the garage bay. Ryosuke's FC was up on the lift as the guys milled about while Ryosuke and Matsumoto worked on the car.

"Hey." Takumi said as he walked in.

"Ryosuke! He's here!" Kenta called springing up from the work bench where he had been sitting. Keisuke shot him a tire melting stare and Kenta quickly calmed down.

"Woh, what the big deal?" Takumi asked.

"Ryosuke's been waiting for you to show up before he tells us about his plan." Takeshi said.

"Oh, sorry to keep you guys waiting." Takumi said scratching the back of his head. Ryosuke and Matsumoto walked over.

"It's alright Takumi, you didn't know." Ryosuke said.

"Come on Ryosuke, out with it, what's the big plan, what have you come up with for Keisuke?" Kenta was nearly jumping up and down.

"Hey Keisuke, get your cheering section under control." Takeshi joked.

"Yeah, calm down Kenta." Ryosuke said as he lit a cigarette. "This weekend is Takumi's race, then Ryosuke, followed by Takeshi. Of course it is always my decision as to weather it is going to go that way or not. Of course the locals might not want to comply with that and take on someone else. That is the plan for now. Also we know that Mike and the guys down at the gas station have to be connected to the local racers, so see if you can't find out something, keep your ears perked for any information.

 

* * *

 

Fox checked the alignment of his Mustang one more time as Mike finished the technical run down on Nakazato's Skyline GT-R.

"So you mean to tell me that the Skyline is nothing more than a glorified Subaru? Won't be a problem." Fox said with his usual cocky attitude.

"Come on Fox, were you not listening, it has close to 400 horsepower, 400 forced induction ponies." Molly said. That was the thing about Fox, if his opponent's car did not have _Made in the USA_ stamped on it then it was not a worthy opponent.

"Alright then, if the damn things so good why don't they import the car to America? I'll tell you why, because if they did it would cost too much money and not offer the performance to stand up to cars like Mustangs and Corvettes, and people would get pissed at spending all that money to get a car that is being outperformed by something far cheaper."

"Alright, have it your way Fox, but don't come crying to me when he beats your ass." Molly responded again.

"That's alright, because I'm not gonna lose." Fox said, sticking out his chest slightly.

"OK Fox." Molly rolled her eyes, and went back to giving her car a thorough check over.

"Just remember Fox, 400 horsepower, twin turbo and the all wheel drive will launch it better. Not to mention it will allow him to power out of the turns with better traction." Mike said.

"Yeah, I know my car does not have 400 horses, but its only running a straight six, its like a glorified Falcon, or Dart. It just doesn't have the displacement to have the punch of my 5.0."

"Right Fox, but the all wheel drive, and traction control allow him to tie down the power better." John put in.

"All that crap is like cheating." Fox scoffed.

"Seconded." Molly said, "It bypasses a lot of fundamental driving skills and it means you don't have the skills if the driving aids are taken away."

Mike looked squarely at Fox. "You want to take on the Skyline, don't you?"

"No, this isn't going to be the don't underestimate your opponent lecture is it?"

"No Fox, it's not, because I know that you're a skilled driver and that there are very few people around here that are better than you. But these guys are serious, and despite what you think of the car it's not going to be an easy race, just keep that in mind."

"So are we racing this weekend then?" John asked. At once everybody looked to Mike to hear what he was going to say.

"No. We've seen how these guys prepare, we've seen and scoped out their cars to a certain extent, but we haven't seen them race yet. After a couple of races we'll see how they do, once we have a gauge for how they race we'll know what we have to do to beat them." Mike answered, even though he knew that they wanted to get back at it, just like he wanted to, but they couldn't take the risk of taking the cars out of the barn in the middle of the day, or to a meeting place like the burger stand.

"Oh come on, they're only driving a bunch of sushi boats, we haven't seen anyone yet that we couldn't take." Fox piped in again.

"Geez Fox. I thought that we established the fact that these guys are different, not just some Milford punks who think big rims and an exhaust tip make a performance car." Mike said.

"Yeah, yeah I know Mike, these guys are real racers not some scrubs. I still don't think that they're all that you've made them out to be." Fox responded.

"It's better to overestimate then to underestimate and get smoked." John said.

"Yeah, well come Saturday we'll see who's right." Fox said narrowing his eyes.

 

* * *

 

Mike and John were in the garage working on customer cars in the bay next to the Project D members. Molly and Fox were waiting out front by the pumps for customers. Molly watched as one of the younger members of Project D walked over to where she and Fox were sitting, usually they would be talking about racing, or how some certain tweak had helped or hurt the cars performance, but Mike had asked them to stop, so as not to give the Project D racers to much info, or to even let them know that they were racers themselves. She eventually recognized the kid as the driver of the Carolla, with his dark hair.

"Hi." He said, acknowledging both of them. "I'm Fujiwara Takumi, call me Takumi."

"I'm Molly and this is Fox." Molly introduced herself, indicating her co-worker with her hand. She also knew that Fox was not inclined to get friendly with the opposition, they were the enemy after all.

"Back home I used to work at a gas station like this." Takumi offered, "It's nice not to have to come running every time someone rolls of the hose."

"Yeah, I wish my vacation would hurry up and get here." Molly said. "The weathers been wicked nice lately."

"Yeah, its nice here, I love the way you guys race around here."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Molly asked.

"Well back home we race on a lot of mountain passes. The roads are rather wide, and we usually don't have to worry to much about oncoming traffic. But here you guys race off through the woods on skinny little roads, its kinda suicidal. Not to mention the fact that because of the amount of roads around here there can be so many different combinations of roads to create a different coarse."

"Suicidal? What the hell is racing down mountains?" Fox snapped.

"Come on Fox, they race where they live, and so what, things are different in Japan." Molly turned back to Takumi. "The thing around here though is just what you said, and that allows different drivers to match the abilities of their cars, or their particular driving abilities. So watch out." Molly admonished.

"I'm sure we'll be prepared. So what does the local coarse around here look like?" Takumi asked.

"I don't really know." Molly lied, she knew the place well, even if she didn't racer there as much as Mike, or John. "It's a combination of narrow twisty roads, but there are some wide open straight aways, so its tough to have a car setup for it."

"Huh, sounds like fun. Where is it?"

"Populatic Street, but it's made into a circuit by connecting with other streets."

"Do you know it?" Takumi asked Molly. Fox shot her a warning glare from behind Takumi.

"Sort of, but if you want to know it you'd better talk to Mike, he knows is better than we do."

"OK, I'll be sure to let Ryosuke know. I don't know to much about cars, but are the Dukes of Windsor fast?"

"Of course they are. They own the courses around here, but Populatic is their home, they've never been defeated there." Fox chimed in quickly and it was Molly's turn to shoot him a glare.

"Well I look forward to seeing them soon. I'd better have Ryosuke talk to Mike about Populatic Street." Takumi gave a slight wave before turning back to the garage.

"I still don't get it he only drives a Carolla, and he just doesn't seem to be with it all the time." Molly whispered to Fox.

"I know." Fox answered.

* * *

 

Ryosuke looked around the table at the racers and support staff that he had assembled for Project D's American excursion. They were the best amateur racers in Gunma, if not in all of Japan, and Ryosuke knew they would win here in America. They might have some difficulties in adjusting to the difference in the way the Americans drove, but they would adjust sooner than latter.

"So what did we find out today?" Ryosuke asked.

Nobody responded right away, eventually Takeshi spoke up. "I'm sorry Ryosuke, but I didn't find much out, but I talked to Mike and he seems to know more than he's letting on. He talked a lot about how fast these guys are and how they never lose."

"Well that's good, but they're not telling us anything that we don't know." Keisuke said.

"I talked with Molly, and Fox they told me where these guys race, but said that Mike knew the course so you should ask him." Takumi said. "Of course they said that they were fast, but I didn't ask much." Takumi stopped and Ryosuke looked at him. Ryosuke knew there was something else the Takumi wasn't saying.

"Is there anything else Takumi?" Ryosuke prompted.

"Well I dunno, it's stupid." Takumi said scratching the back of his head. "But I get the feeling that they knew more than they were telling me. I might just be missing something though."

"Good at least we know for sure they're involved with the local racers." Ryosuke said. "And that they are close with the drivers. If they just knew of them they would be bragging about the cars, but since they don't want to tell us much that lets us know that they are trying to keep things quiet, good work Takumi."

Takumi tried not to let his smile show, even after all of Project D, and spending time under Ryosuke's watchful eye Takumi was still proud when Ryosuke complimented him.

 

* * *

 

 

Ryouske walked into the part office part convenience store for the gas station. Mike stood behind the register.

"Morning there. You guys win any races lately?" Mike asked. He knew they hadn't been racing, but he was just trying to keep up the front of not being to involved in the local racing scene.

"No, there doesn't seem to be a lot of chances for random street racing except for at stop lights."

"Yeah, that probably is something that goes back to the '60s." Mike said. "Back then that was almost the only type of racing that matter, how fast you could clear the ¼ mile, I think a lot of that has still stuck with most Americans."

"You should come out and watch us this weekend, Takumi is going to race."

"Cool, do you have a challenger yet?"

"Nope, figured someone would challenge us first." Ryosuke shrugged. "My boys will be ready. Hey do you have any cigarettes?" Ryosuke asked.

"Sure." Mike responded producing his pack of cigarettes. "Be careful though, they're unfiltered." Mike warned as he lit his own, and then Ryosuke's. "So do you do any racing, because you really know your stuff." Mike asked.

"Not anymore. I'm just the team leader." Ryosuke shrugged. "I could still do it but I serve the team better coming up with strategies, and coaching the boys."

"Huh, I'd like to see you run." Mike responded.

"Really what we're looking for now is the Dukes of Windsor, we haven't been able to find them, or anyone who can tell us their home course. I was told you're the person who can show me."

"Sure Ryosuke. But why do you want to know the course?" Mike asked trying hard not to betray any of the suspicion that he felt. Mike exhaled smoke. "You'd better bring a notebook though, to keep track of the turns and street changes." Mike said.

"You've got it, how about tonight?" Ryosuke asked.

"Aright, sounds good." Mike responded.

Ryosuke was waiting that night when Mike closed up the shop. Ryosuke climbed into the passenger side of Mike's Taurus. He looked around the interior of the car, and immediately noticed the size, but it black leather seats all around, the shifter seemed a little awkward. It was comfortable, he'd say that much. Mike climbed in the opposite side and fired p the motor, it rumbled more than any American sedan that Ryosuke had herd, but he knew better, this was no ordinary people mover, it as the top of the line performance oriented sedan. It was going to be interesting to see it in action.

"Got you're notebook?" Mike asked.

"Sure." Ryosuke said holding up his notebook and pen.

"I'll tell you the street names so you can come back during the day and have a looksie." Mike said as he slotted the shifter into gear.

Ryosuke watched out the window as Mike drove to Populatic street, he would need to know how to get there himself so he could tell Kenta or Matsumoto so they could get video footage for Project D to study. Ryosuke immediately noticed that the suspension was much stiffer on Mike Taurus than most sedans. The route from the shop to Popoulatic was simple enough to follow, just after cresting a bridge Ryosuke spotted the road sign attached to a telephone pole. For the few fleeting seconds that the headlights illuminated the old green sign Ryosuke could clearly read the tarnished white letters POPULATIC ST. Mike went a little further down the road before he stopped the car.

"This is generally considered the start/finish line." Mike said. "It's so the racers can blow through the finish line and not have to worry about stopping right away."

Ryosuke furiously scribbled in his notebook alternating glances out the window for reference points. Mike set the car smoothly in motion again. Ryosuke was surprised at how narrow most of the road was. As he took notes on the course and road changes Ryosuke also paid attention to Mike. Not once did he look around as if he wasn't sure which way to go. It struck Ryosuke as if Mike was very familiar with the course, to the point where Mike made a turn that Ryosuke had barely seen, sending his pen into hurried action again. At the end of the lap Ryosuke looked over at Mike who had lit up a cigarette.

"You seem to know this place rather well." Ryosuke said.

Mike shrugged. "Sort of."

"Would you be adverse to running it again, at higher speeds?" Ryosuke asked. Mike didn't answer right away, mulling it over.

"I guess I could do it." Mike responded. Mike pitched his cigarette but out the window before he stomped the accelerator. The 3.0 liter V-6 pulled strongly. Ryosuke glanced over when he herd the exhaust note change, the needle had just swept past 4 grand. Ryosuke was pushed back into his seat as the white sedan rocketed down the initial straightaway. Mike got on the brakes earlier then he normally would have, the car was heavier than the Cobra, and the brakes weren't as good, but most importantly, Mike did not want to tip Ryosuke off to the fact that he was a very skilled driver. Ryosuke watched intently trying to make it look like he was taking notes.

When a driver becomes familiar with a particular course they begin to do certain things out of habit to the point where it is difficult for them to overcome it. As Mike lapped the course at a much higher speed than he had on the first lap he tried to drive like an amateur. He succeeded to a certain extent, he did not use heel and toe downshifting, or run the motor up to the level he knew it could go. Despite Mike's best efforts Ryosuke still noticed how Mike timed his application of throttle, or the way that he linked the turns together, the instinctual way that Mike made the turns when the streets changed. It was on that second lap the Ryosuke realized something about Mike.


	5. Orange Crush

Ryosuke pulled into the parking spot next to his brothers FD. The Project D vehicles sat in a row. Ryosuke picked up the notebook that had been sitting on his passenger seat. He looked over his notes, trying to visualize the places, the first two turns a 90 degree right followed by a 90 degree left, so close together that it would be near impossible to drift in succession. The slight turn over the crest of a hill. The road changes. The whole thing was like a smaller version of older style European races like the Targa Florio, or the Millie Millia which took place on public roads Unfortunately there were no barriers to tell you where to go, one mistake, one missed turn and a driver could shoot off down the wrong road and never be able to catch up.

Ryosuke went into the hotel directly up to the room he and his brother were sharing. Keisuke was still awake sitting on the edge of his bed watching a baseball game.

"You didn't have to wait up for me." Ryosuke said knowing that his younger brother waited up for the rundown on the new course.

"It's no big problem." The younger Takahashi said, trying to mask the fact he was waiting intently to hear about Populatic Street. "I was just watching the end of this baseball game."

"Oh, well that's good, whose winning?"

"Boston. You should see the nose on their shortstop, you could use it as a wheel chock for the Project D van." The brothers laughed at Keisuke's remark. "So what was it like?" Keisuke finally asked.

"It's going to be difficult, a lot of it is narrow and twisty, like the first pair of turns, they're so close I don't know if we can drift them. There's trees, telephone poles, house, boulders, and almost anything else that you can think of near the road. There are wider places where you can pass, but most of it is going to be slow, single file. On top of all that there are road changes, so it's easy to make mistakes." Ryosuke threw his notebook to his brother who instantly pulled out the Massachusetts road atlas that they had bought. He found the streets and began highlighting the route so the camera crew would be able to get video footage. Abruptly Keisuke stopped.

"It doubles back on itself, isn't that kind of dangerous?"

"I'm not sure, I don't know how they do things, but I think as long as it's only one lap its not that dangerous, because there is no disparity of cars that would result in the racers crossing each other in opposite directions."

"I guess." Keisuke shrugged.

"It's also means that that part of the course has to be memorized forwards and backwards." Ryosuke said, "To avoid mistakes."

"Right, so what was Mike's car like?" Keisuke asked.

"The cars quick for a sedan," Ryosuke started, "and Mike is a racer for sure."

Keisuke's mouth dropped open. "You mean Mike from the shop?"

"Yes."

"In what? That giant white elephant of his?"

"Maybe," Ryosuke shrugged, "It's certainly up to the challenge of most of the racers we've seen around here so far."

Keisuke waited a moment, and then looked at his brother with an eyebrow cocked. "How do you know this?"

"The way he drove, it was obvious from how familiar he was with the course. And he know where to go when, he also got into a good rythym through larges sections." Ryosuke said.

"Well he could have just been on the top of his game tonight, or maybe playing over his head." Keisuke offered, knowing that he brother was right ten times out of ten.

"He also knew when to brake and when to accelerate, and he hit turns that were almost impossible to know were coming. It would be like us on Akagi, or Takumi in Akina, there was just a certain intangible understanding of the roads."

"Alright." Keisuke said skeptically.

"You'll see." The elder Takahashi admonished.

Nakazato looked to the left of his car, and then to the right to check that his car was lined up with the landmarks that Ryosuke had noted.

"Ok, looks like we're in the right spot." Nakazato said. He handed the notebook over his shoulder to Kenta who was sitting in the back seat. "Ready Matsumoto."

"Yep." He said patting the camera.

"You'd better be on top of things Kenta." Nakazato said a little harshly.

"Of course." Kenta replied, "Besides nothing much happens for awhile.".

"Alright, here we go." Nakazato accelerated smoothly away, keeping the speed down, the important thing was to get good video footage, not to break the course record the first time out.

Everything went smoothly until they were headed back on the first part of the course. Where Populatic streets ends there is really only one way to go, but going back towards the finish line getting back onto it is an other matter. The black Skyline crested the hill and Nakazato followed the easier line thinking it would put him back on Populatic street, as taking the easy line had put him on the next section. Suddenly Nakazato jammed on the breaks, finding himself in a cul-de-sac, with a pair of dogs rushing out from someone's front lawn.

"Nice going Kenta!" Nakazato bit out, "I thought you said you were on top of things!"

"Hey I am!:" Kenta snapped back, "There's nothing in Ryosuke's notes about this!"

"Then we'll keep it on film, and run an other lap." Matsumoto said in a calm voice.

"Alright." Nakazato answered, gingerly maneuvering around the two dogs yapping at his vehicle.

The second lap went much smoother, and Nakazato learned from his mistake right away, and made the turn perfectly.

 

* * *

Friday afternoon Mike watched Matsumoto and Takumi prepare the 86 before going racing. Mike, Fox, and John had finished the days work early, as they always tried to do on Friday. Mike was all set to go watch Project D in action for the first time, to see how well they really performed, not that he had any doubt that a team that came all the way from Japan would not be a serious force to contend with.

Once the Project D racers closed down for the night Mike rounded up John, Fox and Molly and handed the station over to the night crew. The Night crew has a short shift because almost nothing in Medway is open past ten at night, but gas still needed to be sold. The four friends piled into Mike's SHO and headed for Milford.

It didn't take them long to get to Wendy's. It wasn't a surprise that there were already many cars at the fast food joint. Mustangs, Camaros and Firebirds of different years sat along side Japanese and other imports. Jettas, S4s 240 SXs, Civics, and Subarus. Along the back row sat the Project D cars all in a row. Mike parked the SHO at the end of the row.

"Remember guys, try not to be noticed." Mike said pulling the bill of his cap down further. He didn't wear his usual leather jacket as he would have if he was racing. After everything he had done having Ryosuke and Project D find out know that he was the leader of the Dukes of Windsor would be awful.

"We know Mike." John responded.

"That means no shootin' your mouth off Fox." Mike admonished.

"I know, but it might be hard to pull off with all these sushi boats around here."

"Give it you're best shot." Mike winked at Fox.

"You got it bossman."

The group followed Mike over to where Ryosuke was standing among the members of Project D were busy chatting about the possible competition. Ryosuke was surveying the parking lot, his studied eye looking over each car, and when possible the driver to discern who would offer up the best challenge or just more practice for Takumi.

"Hi Ryosuke." Mike said as he walked up. "Any challengers yet."

"No not yet." Ryosuke responded, throwing a cursory glance at Mike and companions before returning to his surveying of the parking lot.

"So who's racing for you tonight? Or do you just let them challenge who ever they want?" Mike asked.

"Takumi is going to race tonight." Ryosuke responded.

"Wicked, I've wanted to see him in action for awhile."

Ryosuke gave a confused look to Mike. "Wicked?"

"Oh, sorry, forgot that you're not from around here. Wicked is a New England colloquialism. We use it like very, or something like that." Mike shrugged, it was always hard to try and explain something local to a person from the outside.

"Oh."

With a hiss from its turbo wastegate a bright orange Nissan 300 ZX rolled into the parking lot. It moved slowly down the row of Project D cars, and then suddenly stopped, and backed up, stopping again in front of Takumi's 86. The tinted window rolled down.

"Who's car is this?" The driver asked.

"Mine." Takumi stepped forward.

"You beat me the other day on Beaver Street. I want a rematch." The driver said. He revved the motor, the sound of the echoing off the brick walls of the fast food joint. Takumi looked back at Ryosuke, who gave an almost imperceptible nod.

Takumi's eyes narrowed. "You're on." He responded. His whole body seemed to tense up, coiled, like a poisonous snake just before it strikes, tense and ready to react to whatever might happen on the road.

"Get ready for an ass kicking kid cuz I'm not losing to you again!"

Takumi went to reply, but Fumihiro stepped in. "Where?" Matsumoto asked.

"Beaver street in Bellingham, though Baer hill to the stop lights at 109. He knows the way."

"How's this race gonna go, do you want to lead or follow?"

The driver didn't respond right away, giving a rather confused look. "I'll lead." He finally responded, before pulling out.

Ryosuke turned to Mike. "What do you know about him?"

"I don't know much about him, but I know some of what he's done to the car. It's got a performance chip, header and an exhaust system, and I think some other stuff, but nothing really to the suspension. It's running I'd say somewhere between 330 and 340 horse." Mike said. "Why you worried about how Takumi will fare?"

"No not really, Takumi already beat him once."

"Alright then, where do you think the best spot to watch from is?"

"The finish line." Ryosuke responded without hesitation.

 

* * *

 

_ The Starting Line. _

Takumi's Panda Trueno sat directly behind the bright orange 300 ZX on Beaver Street. Engines revved as both drivers waited tensely for the starter to give the signal. The high pitched sound of the Silver Top TRD motor mixing with the lower tones of the Nissan V6 and the unmistakable hiss of a turbos as they spooled up. The sounds reverberated through the New England before finally becoming a whisper among the trees and nocturnal animals. One brave person stood in the oncoming lane facing the two racers. Takumi's adrenaline was already pumping as he waited for the go signal, ready to strike. The starter hand went up, and Takumi notched the shifter into first gear. The starters hand seemed to hover in the air for countless hours as both the racers waited. Slowly it seemed to drop, seeming to take longer than it should. Engines roared and tires squealed as the two cars shot off into the night.

 

* * *

 

 

"So what did you tell Takumi?" Matsumoto asked Ryosuke.

"Nothing much, he's already beaten this guy before, so this isn't really much of a challenge for him." Ryosuke responded.

"What do you think of the match up though, we never raced many cars like that back home?"

"It should be about equal." Ryosuke said nonchalantly. Matsumoto's mouth dropped open.

"What? How?" He finally managed to choke out.

"Well the Farilady is only putting out 340 horse power max, and Takumi has at least 240 on tap. However the 86 is much lighter and Takumi is a far better driver. I would really give the advantage to the 86, the only problem is that there's a lot of fast straight stretches, and I don't know if the 86 can keep up, there are parts that are almost drag races, which plays to the Fairlady's advantages."

 

* * *

 

 

"Ryosuke must have a lot of faith in that kid." Molly said. "A 300 ZX against a Corolla."

"Yeah I know." Fox seconded. "It's almost like he threw the kid to the wolves. It doesn't matter what you do to it, at the end of the day a Carolla is a Carolla."

"I don't know guys." Mike said. "He is one of their aces, and that is one nasty little econobox. Besides, the Z is bigger and heavier, and although it might not have as much of an impact on the beginning there are some really tight turns latter on. The Corolla theoretically should be able to corner faster because its lighter and doesn't have the weight to throw around."

Fox looked back skeptically. "It's still just a Corolla hatch."

 

* * *

 

 

At that same moment 'that old Corolla hatch' was still hot on the heels of the 300 ZX. Except for few lazy turns the initial part of the race was wide open, Takumi barely lost any ground to other car because of the weight difference, he knew that he could pass the other car almost whenever he wanted to, but the road was to narrow and the 300 ZX to wide to be able to accomplish the move without putting both cars in danger.

The two cars roared towards the first real challenge, the first S turn heading up a small hill. At this point the road widens, and Takumi, still tensed like a snake was ready to strike. Takumi pinned the accelerator, and the song of the 4AG motor jumped an octave. Takumi moved to the left just before the first turn of the S putting his bumper inside the left rear fender of the 300 ZX. The driver of the orange Z car moved further inside forcing Takumi to back off, and at the top of the hill the road took a right, and Takumi was forced to fall back into file as the road narrowed again. Another straight section followed, every time Takumi went to pass, the other driver blocked him.

"You ass clown!" Takumi yelled, "You know I'm faster!"

The two cars rocketed down the road, the 86 glued to the rear of the Nissan. Every once and awhile there would be a couple of people standing on the side of the road as the two cars climbed a slight incline. Just ahead sat the second S turn, much sharper, and much closer together, essentially two 90 degree turns linked together, one left, one right.

_ This is where I can get him. He slowed way down here the other day. He can't take these turns as fast as me.  _ Takumi thought. Just as Takumi suspected the other driver moved to the left to setup for the first turn, and stood hard on the brakes early. Takumi struck at the chance, and might have well injected fatal venom into his opponent as he took the inside line and hit the turn hard and fast. The other driver jacked the brakes, afraid that Takumi had lost control. He recovered quickly, but Takumi had already completed the inertia drift and was exiting the left hand turn.

Jacking the brakes caused the 300 ZX to slow down just enough for Takumi to open a gap that couldn't be overcome. The taillights of the 86 got dimmer as Takumi charged towards the finish line. Takumi approached the home stretch as if the other car was still hot on his heals.

Mike herd the distinctive sound of the 86's motor as Takumi approached the last set of turns before the finish line. Mike turned his eyes to the corners and suddenly Mike herd the sounds of tires squealing added to the sound of the engine. All of the sudden the 86 emerged from behind the trees in mid-drift. The people who had gathered to see the end of the race let out a collective gasp.

"He's out of control!" Someone shouted.

Takumi exited the turn perfectly and began to slow down for the traffic light.

"Holy shit!" Molly exclaimed as the 86 came to rest at the stop light.

"Yeah, my thoughts exactly." John said.

"He did a good job of recovering from that spin." Fox said.

"That wasn't a spin, or a powerslide, that was something different entirely." Mike said.

"What how do you know that?"

Mike narrowed his eyes as he lit a cigarette. "I just have a feeling."

"I'm sorry Mike, but he was out of control, there was no way he did that on purpose, it makes no sense, sliding sideways can not make you faster, there was no way that he meant to do that." Fox said agitatedly.

"No, he was to under control." Mike said.

"I doubt it." Fox shot back.

"We'll see." Mike said.

Mike stood by his Cobra, in the barn. He hadn't planned on the Project D racers having a completely different, and alien driving style. It was one thing to have highly skilled racers show up on your doorstep. They'd been able to cope with it in the past, but the driving style had always been the same, or very similar, but the Japanese, the completely different style. Mike didn't even know what to call it. He took a sip of his beer and turned around to look at his friends and teammates sitting on various pieces of equipment around the barn.

"So what the hell did we see tonight?" Mike asked.

"Some kid lost control of his Corolla and did a good job of saving it." John offered.

Mike pulled a sour face at that remark. "I don't think so." He finally said. "It was to fluid, to smooth and well executed. He did it on purpose."

"Is it possible that cornering like that is what makes that Corolla so fast?" Molly offered.

"I don't know." Fox said, "Doesn't sliding like that generally slow you down?"

"That's what I was always, taught. But maybe they've come up with something that suits them?" Mike shrugged.

"Either way we have to think of a way to stop 'em." John said.

"We could not change anything and just try to flat out run 'em, I mean we're talking a bunch of guys with cars that don't even make 3 litres, we can out accelerate them."

"Then how do we outrun them if they're ahead of us and they take a turn like that?' Molly responded.

"I guess it would be difficult to pull that off, wouldn't it?" John said.

Mike took another sip of his beer before crossing his arms over his chest. "I have no fucking idea how we deal with this." Mike said.

"Come on Mike, it's late. We all need some rest." Molly said, "We can come up with something in the morning."

"Right, good night everybody." Mike said before heading to the house with Molly.

 

* * *

 

 

Ryosuke sat on his bed in the hotel. Takumi's race had gone well. The other driver still didn't know how to cope with drifting. It just wasn't something the Americans seemed to do. The Americans only seemed to grip turns, it was different but that was the whole goal of coming to America, to compare skills and adapt to new driving styles.

He had seen how people watching had reacted when the 86 came screaming around the corner, tires squealing, smoke billowing as Takumi masterfully directed the car in its four wheel drift. They had thought the car was out of control, they would have no idea how to counter drifting or how to figure it out fast enough. Even figuring out how to drift wouldn't do the American drivers any good, as there was no way they could rise to the level of Keisuke and Takumi in a few weeks. How were they going to react though? The Duke of Windsor would find out, how would they deal with this? Ryosuke knew that they were the fastest not because they had the fastest cars but because they knew how to prepare for a race, they knew how to adapt and they would come up with some plan to deal with Project D's drifter. Perhaps Nakazato would have to wait a couple of races before the Dukes of Windsor came out. They would develop a plan to not allow Project D's drivers to drift, and Nakazato would be able to capitalize with his R-32 at just the right time. It would work.


	6. Mind Games

It was very early Monday morning as Mike sat in his Cobra, idling just before the high tension electrical lines that marked the beginning of the course. It was the dark predawn hours as he sat there, the warm summer air on his face, the peepers sang their continuous song from the swamp marshes that surrounded sections of the Populatic course. Mike zipped up his fighter style leather jacket and flicked the switch that turned on the high powered driving lights mounted on the rim of the Cobra's gapping maw.

Mike punched the gas and the Cobra lunged from a stand still. The sound of the 351 cubic inch Windsor mill drowning out the sounds of the peepers. The once warm night air suddenly turned cooler as it rushed past at ever increasing speeds. Mike concentrated on piloting his monster. The initial part of the Populatic course is wide, the first pair of turns can be taken near full tilt, and they are followed by a long straight away. Mike had no doubt that he would jump out in front. The Corolla could not match the acceleration of the Cobra. Mike knew when it came to it he would have to make the most of the straight-aways.

Mike jumped on the brakes, heal-and-toe downshifting as he approached the first real challenge. Flames shot out from the sidewinder exhaust pipes. Mike linked the 90 degree right hander and the even tighter left that soon followed perfectly. At the beginning Populatic Street is wide, but after another set of turns it narrows drastically, houses on one side, and a swamp marsh on the other separated by a narrow strip of solid earth. Compounding the difficulty were telephone poles, trees, and parked cars. At race speeds it was impossible to pass. Mike had always called it the narrows.

The road does not remain narrow for long, as it widens back out into an easy right hand turn, no houses, only trees on the side of the road. A short straight leads to a slightly off camber left then up a hill. The hill narrows slightly again at the top.

Another crucial element of Populatic is the blind turns. There aren't many, but their enough to cross up unfamiliar drivers, and the first one was at the top of the hill. The top of the hill there is a three way intersection, but going straight only leads off into the woods, the proper way is down the hill to the right. Because the straight at the top of the hill is so short, and the right hander that led down the hill John had likened it the famous corkscrew at Laguna Seca. At the bottom of the hill was the stop sign, and the left turn away from the cul-de-sac that crossed up so many unfamiliar drivers. As much as Mike wanted to win he did not want it to be because his counterpart form Project D missed a turn. Obviously they were all good drivers and Mike wanted to know that he really beat the driver and not the course 

Mike felt good, he fell into his familiar rhythm that he had on his home course. And suddenly it hit him like a cold slap in the face. Obviously by cornering the way the Corolla did the driver did not have complete control, and it was something that most likely depended on having a good rhythm like so much else in racing. If you interrupt the rhythm then you can beat the slider. As he completed the lap Mike allowed himself a smile. He had come up with a plan to stop the slider, it would work.

Project D had net yet made it to the shop when Mike arrived in the SHO. John, Fox, and Molly were waiting outside. Mike got out of his car with a big grin on his face.

"What the hell are you smiling about?" Fox asked.

"Oh nothing, but I've just figured out how to stop those guys and their crazy slide driving." Mike said, his friend's moth's dropped open.

"How, what?" John asked.

"Come on Mike tell us." Molly pleaded.

Mike shrugged. "What's one of the most important things to driving fast?" He finally asked.

"Good motor." Fox said.

"Suspension." John answered.

"Proper shifting." Came from Molly.

Mike only shook his head.

"Tires?"

"Differential?"

"Steering?"

"No come on guys, you're focusing on the mechanical aspects. Think about the driving."

"Vision?"

"Reflexes."

"Timing."

Mike pulled a face. "You all have part of it. All these things and a couple of others allow a good driver to establish a rhythm; and that's the key. Think about it. A good rhythm is the key to going fast in every type of racing. Their style of sliding is no different, so if we can interrupt their rhythm, we can slow them down. The fact that they're only partially in control it's even more pronounced. What I think we can do is this. Approaching a turn, jack the brakes to upset their rhythm, especially before entering a turn. It'll work."

The shop had just opened when Project D showed up. Takumi came walking into the store and grabbed a can of soda from the case.

"Nah, don't worry about it kid." Mike said when Takumi went to pay. "After that race Friday night it's on the house."

"Thank you." Takumi said with a slight bow.

"So let me ask you something." Mike said before Takumi had a chance to turn around.

"Sure." He said and opened the soda.

"The way you cam out of that last turn, did you do that on purpose?"

"What? You mean drifting? Of course I did it on purpose. Its how most people back home do the downhill." Takumi answered.

"Wow," Mike said, "But why? I mean I've never seen anybody do anything like that before."

"Well I don't know, I guess it just come through feeling when you're driving down the side of a mountain."

"And you carried it over to racing here? Well it's awesome, good luck kid."

"Thanks." Takumi said.

Ryosuke wandered in not long after Takumi left. He handed Mike the money for the last weeks rent, and leaned on the counter casually.

"So how'd you like the show Friday?" Ryosuke asked

"Loved it." Mike responded. "The way Takumi drove was something incredible. Do all you guys race like that in Japan?"

Ryosuke shrugged. "Most people do." He said calmly. "You guys don't drift over here?"

It was Mike's turn to shrug. "If that's what you guys call it. I thought it was a powerslide or something. Is it really that much faster?"

"I don't know for sure. All I do know though is that both of our aces have never lost to anybody who used a grip technique."

"Do you think I could get a demonstration?" Mike asked.

"What kind?"

"I was hoping to ride shotgun, if that's alright?"

"Sure I don't see why not. "Ryosuke responded. It would play perfectly into what he wanted the Duke of Windsor to believe.

"Cool."

"You want to go tonight?"

Mike wanted to jump at the chance, but he held himself back. "When ever's good for you." He responded, even though the glint in his eyes betrayed him.

"Alright, when you get off work tonight we'll go out." Ryosuke said.

"You got it."

Mike waited patiently for the day to end, sometimes the clock hands didn't seem to move. Mike worked through his lunch hour hoping to get out early. Finally the day was over the last car parked out front and waiting to be picked up by their owners. The white RX-7 sat idling in front of the office. Mike almost ran out to the car, with his lunch bag in his hand.

"Do you mind if I eat in your car? I'm starving." Mike asked.

"I guess." Ryosuke shrugged. "As long as you pack it up before I start the demonstration."

"You got it."

Mike munched away on his sandwich, and they were almost half way there before Mike realized where Ryosuke was taking him.

Populatic Street!

Mike glitched for a second, stuffed the remains of his sandwich back in the bag. The white RX-7 rolled to a stop at the power lines. Ryosuke didn't ask if it was the right location, he knew it was, and really wanted to convey his confidence and comfort with the course. He wanted to show confidence without reproach. He revved the engine a couple of times. No matter how many times he heard it, the sound of a rotary engine still sounded weird to Mike.

Ryosuke launched the car with minimal tire spin. Mike was surprised at how he was pinned back in his seat; it was really surprising considering how small the motor is. Ryosuke moved the car through the first set of easy turns. Mike almost panicked when Ryosuke blew right by his normal braking point. He got on the brakes soon after, but was still going faster then he should have been before the rear started to slide out. Ryosuke pinned the gas, and counter-steared , and the car continued its slide. Mike clenched his teeth as he was thrown towards the door, sure they were going to slide into the trees. Mike looked at Ryosuke as he spun the steering wheel in the opposite direction, sending the car in the opposite direction slide for the tight left hand turn. Mike was thrown towards the middle of the car as the rotary engine screamed, and tires squealed.

The leader of Project D was putting on a show and that was what he had intended to do. He played up his skills, drifting turns that he knew would be faster to grip, and drifting turns that he knew would not be safe during a race. That was the point however, to show how skilled they were at drifting, and to demonstrate how fast it could be.

Every time the rear started to slide Mike clutched the sides of the bucket seat that embraced him. Being abruptly thrown from one side to the other, and being held there by G-force. The abrupt changes caused his stomach to turn. When the reached the longer straight stretches Mike was impressed at how the RX-7 hustled down the straightaway, and especially at how confident Ryosuke was to go that fast. There was no way he could be that familiar with the course so soon. They drifted onto River Road, and Ryosuke charged towards the long, wide right hand turn. Mike almost panicked again because Ryosuke never even tapped the brakes, he just cranked the wheel over and floored the gas, sending the car into an inertia drift. Knowing how long the turn was Mike was sure they were going to slide off into the trees, or lose momentum and be sitting in the middle of the turn. But the stupid car just kept going, tires squealing, smoke billowing from all four corners. Ryosuke exited the turn perfectly, and linked the following turn expertly.

Mike sat there, amazed at what he was witnessing, being thrown from one side of the car to other. It was all happening so fast that he could barely comprehend what was going on. The darkness and the speed at which Ryosuke executed everything it was impossible for Mike to figure out what he was doing to make the car bend to his will. At the end Ryosuke went rocketing past the start/finish line, only slowing down to cross the bridge. The car rolled to a stop and Ryosuke looked over at Mike.

"Did you enjoy the ride?" Ryosuke asked.

"Yes, very impressive." Mike said trying to catch his breath. All doubt had been removed from his mind about how fast drifting could be, and that Ryosuke and Project D were real racers.

Ryosuke drove back to the shop, and dropped Mike off. Mike jumped into his car and headed off to the bar, trying to reason out what he had just experienced. Raul was sitting at the bar when Mike got there, he plopped down next to Raul at the bar and ordered a beer.

"Hello Michael." Raul said.

"Hey Raul." Mike responded. "I just had a ride along with Ryosuke, holy shit."

"A what is the problem Michael? Is he a that fast the youra Bambina can nota beat him?"

"That's not it Raul. I won't be racing him, I'll be racing one of the Double Aces." Mike said. "Ryosuke is just the team manager, I doubt that he was significantly better or else he would be one of the guys racing."

"So what? Are you a worried about this Michael?" Raul said, narrowing his eyes at Mike. "You are the best racer around here, you can beat these Japanese kids, their cars are no match for your Babmina!" Raul said, his voice getting louder as he spoke. 

"I know Raul. But they race differently, they drive differently, and they drive good cars. They're fast. I just don't really even know whether or not my plan is going to work." Mike sipped his beer.

"Michael, all you and, John, Fox and Molly cana do is race the course like you've always done. You are good drivers. A don't let this strange and a different driving style get you hot under the shirt." Mike smirked at Raul's misunderstanding of the phrase. "Remember Michael, the first rule of Italian driving; Whatsa behind me is unimportant!" Raul said.

"So I'm supposed to drive without any mirrors on my car?" Mike asked with a little chuckle.

"A no no no Michael, what I am a saying is if you worry too much about what isa going on behind you, it will be harder to focus on driving fast. 

"Right Raul!" Mike said, perking up a little bit. "That's not going to stop me from using the plan I've come up with."

"But how do they drive that is so different from us? A what do theya do?"

"It's called drift, or drifting, I don't know for sure." Mike shook his head. But that's not the important thing. Pretty much they corner by skidding all four wheels. It's fast, and I don't have the first idea of how they do it."

"What a was it like? How did the car behave? How did It feel?"

"Weird, he approached most of the turns fast and whipped the car around in ways I didn't think were possible."

"How does he do it, how does he approach a turn?"

"Well there really wasn't and way that he approached a turn, but before a lot of them there was a sort of little blip in the opposite direction of the turn we were heading into."

"A good good, when does he get on the brakes?"

"Well late usually, latter than I do normally."

"Alaright, but when, does he do it before he setups for the turn, ora during it?"

"Usually during it." Mike responded.

"When does the rear begin to come around?"

"Usually just after he gets on the brakes." And it all started to come together in Mike's head. "I get it, it's like jackknifing a tractor trailer. The back of the car wants to go faster than the front is, and by hitting the gas at the right time and counter-steering you can keep the rear inline and power out of the turn." Mike did now understand drifting on a very fundamental level, but to reach the level of Ryosuke, Keisuke or Takumi would take a lifetime of practice. Mike would be better suited to it than many people, because of his innate driving abilities, but he lacked the time to learn it properly. "I can do this." Mike said.

"A no Michael. I would advise against it." Raul said waving his hands lazily. "It isa not a good idea to go and try and race like them now. You don't a have the time to understand it and be at the same level as them. Ita will only take away from your regular practice, it will be a distraction."

"Yeah, but if I just try it a little and understand how its done I can come up with a better way to counteract it."

"A no no no Michael. I know you, as soon as you try anda do this you will not stop until you are good at it. If you want to win you wont try this until after you've beaten them, now is nota the right time. You have to win, so you must concentrate on driving the way you always do."

"Alright, alright, alright." Mike held up his hands in mock defense. "I wont do it, not until after they leave."

"Youa promise me." Raul waved a finger admonishingly.

"Promise." Mike said, making an X over his heart.

 

* * *

 

Ryosuke sat in his hotel room again, after leaving Mike at the shop. He felt good about the demonstration he had given Mike. He had noticed Mike's almost imperceptible glitch when he noticed that they were on Populatic Street. The reactions to drifting were amazing. The demonstration had worked perfectly. No doubt by now Mike was talking about it with someone, most likely the leader of the Duke of Windsor.

Word would get back to the for sure, and they would continue to develop their plan to counteract drifting. It would play right into Project D's hands, especially seeing as Nakazato was going to be the first one to face the Duke of Windsor. Ryosuke knew that they would not send an ace against Nakazato, knowing full well that Takumi and Keisuke were Project D's Double Aces. The Dukes would hold their better drivers to face off against them, not against Nakazato. Of course Kenta could always be sent out instead of Nakazato, but it would not have the same affect. The opponents were of course by now trying to figure out how to counteract drifting under the assumption that almost everybody in Japan raced that way, and by playing Nakazato first would work to their advantage. His driving style was more like the Americans, and as they were bound to try and stop drifting Nakazato would be in the perfect position to make his move.

As soon as the race was over, regardless of whether Nakazato won or not it would cause the Dukes of Windsor to rethink their plan about how to stop the Double Aces from drifting. This would distract them, keep there minds off the more important things, like the race, and if the races were scheduled close enough together then they would not have enough time, and as a result be thinking about as they prepared for the next race, if not during the race itself. There is nothing better than a distracted opponent. Ryosuke stroked his chin, silently smiling to himself.


	7. Mind Games part II

 

Mike was sitting in his Cobra at the beginning of Populatic Street, the car idling perfectly, the sound of the motor in his ears, the bucket seat and harness holding him in place snugly. All of the sudden he took off into the night, going through the turns he had taken hundreds of times before. He was more than half way through the course when lights appeared in his rearview mirror. Effortlessly the old Corolla caught up, and moved along side the Cobra. Mike downshifted and put the gas pedal on the floor, but he didn't gain so much as a millimeter on his opponent. Side by side they went through a series of turns in places Mike didn't think it was possible to fit two cars. Then the Corolla changed tactics drifting. All of the sudden it was like the Corolla was drifting around the Cobra in circles. Mike slammed on the brakes coming to instant stop, the Corolla surrounding him in a ring of tire smoke. . .It wasn't real, it couldn't be happening. . .

. . .Mike sat bolt upright in bed, breathing deep, sweat on his back. Molly stirred next to him in bed as he caught his breath.

"Mike? Are you ok?" Molly asked groggily. He didn't answer, thinking instead of the dream he had just woken up from, wondering if it was some sort of omen. "Mike are you alright?" Molly asked again. Rubbing his back.

"Sure, fine." He answered quickly. "I'm going out to Populatic." Mike said as he got out of bed.

"But it's two in the morning." Molly protested.

"Yeah, I know, and this is when they practice." Mike said pulling on his fleece lined leather jacket. He pulled the World War II style leather flying helmet out of the closet. "I have to see if these guys stack up against me."

"But Mike its so early, and what are you going to do, wait out on the side of the road?"

"Yeah." Mike shrugged. "Go back to sleep babe." Mike walked out of the room. The barn door rolled up with a roar, behind it, tucked away from the elements sat his Cobra and Molly's Sunbeam Tiger. The darkness of the barn cloaked the two machines in shadows. Mike flicked on the lights, and the electric green paint sparkled. Mike grinned to himself, he still got goosebumps every time he did that. Seeing the car that he had built sitting next to another that he had helped restore and modify made him feel good. He would never understand why some people didn't love cars, why people didn't treat their cars the way he treated them. Automobiles are things of beauty, they are art, the curves, the sparkle in the paint, the symphony that comes from the tailpipe, and the mechanical dance of the engine. Cars were meant to be cared for like small children, and exercised like professional athletes.

Mike tossed the leather flying helmet into the passenger seat and headed towards Populatic. He didn't take the main course, but other roads the linked up eventually with the course. He parked where they needed to make the turn onto River Road, turned off his headlights and shut down the car. They would be coming there at some point, and he would follow. The leather flying helmet and goggles were necessary so the members of Project D wouldn't be able to recognize him.

The peepers were singing from the banks of the Charles River, the constant peeping almost lulling Mike back to sleep. The sound of a highly tuned four cylinder cutting through the nonstop sound of the peepers prevented that. Mike kicked the clutch and fired the big V8 into action. Lights appeared further down the road, bouncing and shuddering as the stiff suspension refused to comply with road imperfections. Mike watched as the Corolla drifted onto River Road. Mike flicked the toggle switches and all four lights attached to the front of the Cobra came to life. Mike peeled out and took off after the Corolla.

"Huh?" Takumi said as he glanced in his rearview mirror again. Those lights were closing fast. Takumi gave the motor more gas and began to accelerate.

"Hey what's going on?" Matsumoto asked. "You know the rules of practice."

"Look behind us, he's really moving." Takumi answered. Matsumoto did look back, straight into the four lights affixed to the front of the Cobra. Takumi picked up the pace and the Silver top motor instantly responded.

Mike followed close on the 86's heels, concentrating as much as possible on his own driving as he was on the car in front of him. He watched the car ahead drift completely willing to hang back for awhile, watching, waiting for an opening that he knew would come. Mike realized because of the way they drove a passing move would have to be made on the inside of a turn if the opportunity did not arise on one of the longer straight aways. No matter how well that TRD motor was tuned it could not hustle the Corolla up to the same speed as quickly as the built Windsor would get the Cobra there.

No doubt the kid driving the Corolla was good, maybe even up to the same level as Ryosuke? He made the car move, he hustled it around turns that others would struggle to take at half the speed. There was nothing to liken it to, as Mike had never seen it from this angle before. The pace Takumi was setting was very similar to the way John would race it, a little slower, but the same pace and rhythm. Mike kept pace, the mighty V8 roaring away in front of him.

"You think he's following a little close?" Matsumoto asked Takumi.

"No, but I sure don't like having him back there." Takumi said thinking about how some times he didn't like Ryosuke's rules, but he never questioned the wisdom of the elder Takahashi. Even after all the races Takumi still hated being followed closely.

"He's keeping up with us rather well." Matsumoto said.

"I'm not going as fast as I can." Takumi said, not in a smug conceited way, but an offhanded stating of the facts. Takumi knew he could go faster, Matsumoto knew he could go faster, all of Project D knew, all of Gunma knew. Mike didn't know.

Mike wasn't working as hard as he normally would, and he knew it. The way the car in front of him was moving, he knew that he was fast, and the ease with which he executed everything it was clear that he could be faster, but how much faster? How much did the kid have to give, and where was his, and his cars limit?

The two cars approached the hairpin where the course doubled back on itself. They approached the turn fast, on the outside to straighten the line through the turn. It didn't register with Mike when it happened as Mike was concentrating on driving, but Takumi didn't drift the turn! The turn was to tight, and to narrow to drift at race speeds. Motors roared as the pair climbed the hill that followed. Mike continued to follow the 86, he could have passed them going uphill, the small displacement four cylinder just didn't have the torque to compare, but Mike held back.

The Cobra stayed glued to the rear bumper of the Corolla. The cars rocketed through the narrows. As soon as the road widened Mike downshifted and stomped the gas, spinning the tires in third gear as he exploded past the Corolla. Even after he passed Mike continued to push, and the Corolla's lights got smaller in the rear view mirror.

Matsumoto saw Takumi's eyes narrow.

"Takumi don't push it."

"I know." He ground out. "Now he's going to think I'm going to be easy to beat."

"Here comes Takumi!" Kenta exclaimed as the sound of a high performance motor reached his ears. "It doesn't sound right?"

"That's not the 86 you idiot!" Keisuke said.

"Then who is it? You're here, and Ryosuke is here, and so is Nakazato. Who is it?"

"I know." Ryosuke said ominously. The roar got louder and loader as the members of Project D waited to see what was coming.

"Sounds strong." Keisuke said, as he sidled up to his older brother.

"Hmm." Was the only reply from his brother.

"What is it?"

"That my brother is the sound of American high performance." Ryosuke whispered.

"You mean?"

"Yes." Almost on cue the Cobra emerged from around the first turn and accelerated down the initial straight away. The members of Project D gawked at the blazing headlights coming towards them. The car roared past the parking lot further down the road. They saw the electric green paint for the brief moment that the car sat under the street light at the end of the street before it accelerated away from the stop sign hard, engine roaring.

 

* * *

 

Mike caught himself starring sleepily at the screen on the OBD II code reader. He shook his head, maybe Molly had been right? Maybe he shouldn't have gone out and chased Takumi the night before, but it was worth it. He'd taken the kid, he'd kept up, and studied him, but he was paying for it, half awake in the middle of the day.

"I need coffee." Mike grunted before levering himself out the car he was working on. He rubbed his eyes glancing across the shop at the Project D crew. Takumi's car was just coming down off of the lift. Mike walked into the store, and then back to the office where the coffee pot was kept. Takumi was in the store when Mike came back out clutching the warm cup of coffee.

"Hi Mike." Takumi said, "Oh hi Molly." He said after noticing her standing behind the counter, Molly nodded in return. "You look awfully tired." Takumi said to Mike.

"Yeah he couldn't sleep last night." Molly said.

Mike shot her a glare before answering Takumi. "Yeah late night." Mike said and he sipped his coffee.

"Me too." Takumi said, "Do you think I could get some coffee?"

"Sure. You had a late night too?" Mike asked.

"Yeah, we had practice like we've been doing for so long now." Takumi shrugged as Mike handed him a cup of coffee.

"Run fast last night?" Mike asked, he may not have been fully awake but he knew an opportunity to get information when he saw it.

"Not flat out, but we've been picking it up lately. Ryosuke doesn't think it's going to be long before the Duke of Windsor show up."

"Huh," Mike shrugged, "Sound good for you, the more practice you get the faster you can run."

"Did you guys prep like this in Japan?" Molly asked.

"Nah, we never had as much prep time back home as we do here, but we also weren't trying to cope with courses like you guys have over here." Takumi paused, both Mike and Molly knew he had something more that he wanted to say. "I think it's going to be sooner than Ryosuke does though. I got passed last night by someone on Populatic Street. I don't even really know what I should be looking for, but whoever passed me was driving something that I'd never seen before."

"Can you beat him?" Mike asked.

"I don't know," Takumi shrugged, "Won't know until I race him, but I like my chances."

Smug little bastard Mike thought, but then he realized the kid wasn't being smug or cocky he just believed that he had a good chance of winning. It was up to Mike to show him otherwise. He pounded the last of his cup of coffee.

"Sorry buddy I gotta get back to work."

"Alright I'll talk to you later." Takumi said.

 

* * *

 

That night the members of Project D went out to dinner at one of the local chain restaurants. It provided them a good brake from practice and prepping the cars. But of course the conversation never strayed to far from their primary goal, racing. Takumi sat quietly eating while the conversation worked itself around to the inevitable match up with the Duke of Windsor.

"What do you think Takumi? Matsumoto?" Ryosuke asked.

"Well I'm not really sure." Matsumoto answered. "Four cars with at least 350 horsepower, and two of them probably have 400 plus. It sounds like stiff competition, and they didn't get the reputation by just looking and sounding good. Especially since we've seen the place where they race." Matsumoto rubbed his face as he thought about the prospect of stacking up even Keisuke's FD against such machines. The FD was a powerful and awesome machine, but 400 horsepower, and their own turf. The 86 was at even more of a disadvantage, at least he and Ryosuke knew that part of the reason that Takumi had been able to beat much more powerful cars on the downhill was the fact that the downhill negates a lot of the power advantage, but that was not going to be a factor in this case.

"Alright, Takumi?" Ryosuke said turning to the second of his Double Aces.

"I don't know." Takumi shrugged. "All we can do is prepare like we always do, and drive our fastest."

Ryosuke smiled, it was true, but it was something that only Takumi would say, back home the kid didn't have a clue as to what he was going up against most of the time, and here, in America he had even less of a clue, he probably didn't even know what a V8 was. The only other thing they could do besides practice was plan, and plan Ryosuke would.

That night Ryosuke sat in his hotel room, his brother watching another baseball game. The laptop was again set up on the small table. After a couple of hours of searching he had found what he was looking for. After a little cutting and pasting he called his brother over.

"Keisuke come here and take a look at this." Keisuke flicked his bleached blonde hair out of his eyes and walked over to the table.

"What is it brother?"

"I searched the internet and found out some information on the cars used by the Duke of Windsor."

Keisuke looked at the computer screen, next to the pictures of the cars was a technical overview.

"Holy crap!" Keisuke gasped. "6997 cc V8 engine, fully independent suspension, 485 horsepower! How are we supposed to beat that!" Keisuke roared indignantly. "That's more of a race car than a road car!"

"Stay calm brother." Ryosuke held up a hand. "Scroll down."

Keisuke did as he was told, and came across another picture like that of the Cobra above, but next to it was _Cobra kit car._ "So that's what the leader of the Duke of Windsor really drives." Ryosuke nodded. "So it's more like a Mustang than anything else, live axle rear-end, and only a 4949 cc engine."

"And look at the numbers for the motor too."

"I know, much better." Keisuke added.

"Of course they've been modified, I mean nobody gets 400 horsepower without modifications." Ryosuke added, "Do you notice anything else?"

Keisuke looked at the picture on the computer screen, thinking it over, running through what he thought his brother was getting at. But he couldn't.

"Do you remember last night, on Takumi's last run?"

"No, you don't think? . . That car last night was the leader of the Duke of Windsor?" Keisuke looked at his brother with wide eyes, and mouth open.

"It has to be." Ryosuke said firmly. "How many cars like that could be around here, and how many would have been out at two in the morning?"

"You're right as usual." Keisuke said. "So do you think he was just out for practice last night, or was he scoping us out?"

"Did he tale you? Do you remember him coming past the starting line?"

"I don't know?" Keisuke shrugged. "I did a lot of runs last night, and I didn't see him, while Takumi was doing his runs."

"He didn't, he never went past us at the start/finish line. He had to have camped out somewhere along the course to be able to jump Takumi like that. Takumi and Matsumoto both said that he hung back and watched, or at least he didn't pass when he had the chance on many occasions. He scoped them out last night."

Again Keisuke's eyes went wide, "He scoped them out." Keisuke finally gasped.

"Yes." Ryosuke responded. "You were there when he went by us. That car has a seriously strong motor, not to mention you saw how it accelerated away from the stop sign."

"Yeah it sounded weird though." Keisuke said, thinking about the sound made by the Cobra's powerplant. "It sounded weird, almost like it was gonna blow up."

"Well they do take a different approach to performance, over here they like big motors, high torque, and lower revs. The other thing that I've found out about the motors that these guys are using is that they were developed in the 1960s, so they don't have overhead cams, and they don't have a VTEC system. So when they tune the car they have to got to a more performance cam, that's why it idles so weird."

"They should just use a computer." Keisuke paused. "Wait, that means these motors are using technology that is almost 30 years old."

"Right, and just like Japanese car companies didn't always use computers neither did the Americans."

"I know." Keisuke protested, fearing another lecture.

"Remember to, there are many different angles to performance. Just look at the FD and Takumi's 86. The FD is bigger, has more horsepower, and independent suspension, it is clearly the superior car. The 86 on the other hand uses its weight as its best factor, even though the motor is smaller the car is lighter, and doesn't need the same amount of power to produce the same performance as the FD. The American cars are no different. Because the Cobra and the GT Spyder are kit cars we can probably assume a few things. Now we know that all the cars have V8 motors, so most of the cars will probably be nose heavy, and given the inherent problems with the Mustang suspension they'll still have some of the residual effects."

"But how do we know they haven't tuned the suspensions?" Keisuke asked. "I mean if they're racers they wouldn't just bolt on the Mustang hardware, they would have to modify it."

"That's always a possibility." Ryosuke said, "A very likely one indeed, but one thing they can't change is the nose heaviness. They'll have to slow down significantly for the turns. I think the biggest worry we have is the Sunbeam Tiger, the weight distribution is only marginally heavier in the front, very close to 50/50."

"Well brother," Keisuke said, "I haven't ever seen a Mustang around here with a 6997 cc engine. So what would the car be using instead, how would it alter the performance and handling?"

"Well we can only assume that its more balanced, but the limitations placed on it by the live axle rear-end and all the other Mustang running gear, it might not hold the road as well as the real Cobra."

 

* * *

 

Mike sat at the bar nursing his beer and still feeling tired from his early morning run of Populatic. The whole thing played itself out over and over again in his mind. What struck Mike most was the speed the kid carried. He was fast, and Mike had witnessed it first hand, the only regret he had was that he hadn't had a way to record it. He would have been able to analyze it, and show it to someone else in case he missed something. Only having his memory to go on wasn't a problem, but then again he couldn't show anybody else.

Most importantly was the drifting, it would make it very hard to pass in many sections as there was not enough room to squeeze by at race speeds. Mike started to focus on the places where the road was wide enough to pass. Of course there was the spot just after the narrows on the return run, then the off camber turn could not be drifted, the car would slide right off the road, and last but not least there were the straight aways. Then it hit Mike! Takumi hadn't drifted when he made the hairpin to double back to the finish line. The turn was to narrow and tight, so all Mike had to do was get inside of Takumi's rear and power through the turn, hopefully he could hold him off for the rest of the race.   
  


* * *

 

Takumi lay awake in bed, starring through the darkness at where he knew the ceiling to be. The conversation at dinner that night had again turned to the match up against the Dukes of Windsor. Even while he had been talking, trying to be as confident as possible, but the whole scenario of being jumped two nights ago had been playing itself over and over in his head. As he lay in bed his mind was at it again, he couldn't seem to calm himself down to be able to fall to sleep. The roar of the other car was in his ears, the sight of the two small red brake lights disappearing ahead of him into the night. It just wouldn't go away. Even Matsumoto's snoring wasn't a distraction. Takumi threw the covers off, got dressed and headed for the 86.

In fifteen minutes Takumi was sitting at the starting line of the Populatic course. He would never get the opportunity to cut loose with Matsumoto and Ryosuke watching over him in the regular Project D practices. He was at the end of his second lap when he herd more cars coming, thinking it was Matsumoto, or another member of Project D that had noticed he was missing, he quickly turned around and headed back out for another lap, hoping they wouldn't follow.

Takumi took off ahead, but by part way towards the 90 degree right hand turn he could see that the other car was closing in, its lights were big in the rearview mirror. It wasn't anybody from Project D.

Mike saw the red taillights ahead of him. They twitched as the car hunkered down on launch. Mike pushed the accelerator down, knowing that it was a good chance that it was somebody form Project D. He continued to gain on the other car until they hit the turns. It was still to dark and the other car to far away to tell which car it was, but the way it cornered told Mike that it had to be one of the Project D racers. Mike jumped hard on the brakes, heal and toe downshifting, hoping John was doing the same behind him. It wasn't everyday that you get to follow a perspective opponent on almost a full lap.

Takumi lost the light in his rearview mirror as he set the 86 into a drift. The cabin was illuminated by the lights of the cars following behind. He quickly reversed direction of the drift for the next turn. The car behind him didn't seem to be losing any ground, but neither was Takumi leaving him in the dust. In fact the other car didn't seem to gain anything until the straight sections.

The Cobra screamed through the night followed closely by John's GT Spyder. As soon as the opportunity arrived he put the hammer down on the straight, picking up the pace on the car in front of him, but he couldn't seem to catch him in the turns. The first real spot was the straight away at the Franklin air park. By the end of the straight away Mike had caught up, and he could see that the car in front of him was the Project D Corolla. Mike followed through the turns and pinned the gas on the exit. . .


	8. Tokyo Letter

Dear Natsuki,

I hope everything is going well for you back home. Right now we're in this small town in Massachusetts, in America's north east. We're trying to track down this local race team called the Dukes of Windsor. I was beginning to think that they didn't exist until a couple of nights ago, but I know that the driver that jumped me the last couple of nights is one of them. He's fast, I have to go faster if I'm going to beat him.

As much as I like it here I miss a lot of things about home. I miss making the tofu delivery over Mount Akina, and since I've had a lot of time alone to think, I keep thinking of you. Many times when I can't sleep at night I stay up thinking of you. I can't wait until we come home and see you. If you're still in school when we get back from this trip the first thing I'm going to do is visit you in Tokyo.

Takumi.

"Come on Natsuki, let's go!" Sarah called from the door way. Natsuki quickly folded the letter and put it back in the envelope before rushing out the door after her new friend

 

* * *

 

Mike looked at Raul sitting next to him at the bar. "So you're a telling me that you've beaten the kid in the Corolla twice?" Raul asked.

"Yeah, the kids really good, he's wicked fast. Faster than almost all of the kids running tuner cars around here these days. He's just not able to run with me on the straights."

"Well Michael, anybody who knows anything can tell that 351 cubic inches is going to outrun something with only 1600 cc. Remember, it doesn't matter what they did to the car, a Corolla isa still a Corolla." Raul said. "How long before you guys race them?"

"I don't know, soon, probably this weekend. I'm sending Fox out first. I mean I know that they're not going to send out one of their aces for the first race, but Fox really wants to take on the Skyline, he really wants to prove himself against the best car to come out of Japan since the NSX, especially since he's so anti-Japcar. From what I understand the only guy who didn't fit into their original plan back in Japan is the driver of the Skyline, Nakazato I think."

"A Skyline. . . A GT-R?" Raul asked, Mike nodded. "Ah Michael you be a careful. The GT-R is a good machine. They are a very fast, and if a these boys are as serious as you make them sound I'm sure he's modified it."

"Yeah I know, and he has. He says he's getting close to 400 horsepower, but I don't think Fox would like it if I took the GT-R, besides I want the kid."

"Alright Michael, but don't say I didn't warn you. I've driven one of those GT-Rs. They are a very fast machine. Don't underestimate it, anda make sure Charles is prepared for it. It's not going to be like beating up on one of these other Japanese cars that all the punks have over here."

"I know I know." Mike said waving a hand dismissively. Never having seen one in action before was the only thing that allowed Mike to dismiss Raul's warning so casually.

"This has been going on for to long Michael, you need to race them this weekend."

"I know." Mike said, feeling like a broken record. "I finally feel confident that I can take them on, we're going this weekend." Mike paused. "You'll be there right."

"Of course I will. The only reason I would miss this is for the Gumball Rally."

 

* * *

 

 

Mike looked across the shop to where the members of Project D were preparing. His eyes narrowed. It was time; they'd waited long enough, learned as much as they could about the foreign cars and driving style. Sure the occasional late night romp against Takumi was fun, and helped Mike learn how to cope with them, but is wasn't the same as a whole race, and no one was there to see it accept for him and Takumi, and only they really knew who had come out on top. In a couple of days everyone on the local racing scene would know that Mike Sarazin was among the best of the best. He had to tell the other members of his team.

Ryosuke looked up at his brothers FD on the lift. Accept for a couple of times when the lone Cobra had shown up they had had no real competition, and even then the Cobra only managed to go after Takumi. It was time for the Duke of Windsor to show themselves, or Project D was going to have to head out. Only another couple of days, if they didn't show up on Friday night Project D would be headed somewhere else come Monday morning. He just had to tell his team. Takumi wouldn't like leaving the area without getting his full race against the Cobra, he wanted to prove himself as much as the other members of Project D did, but it was more intense from Takumi. He had been jumped by it twice, and he wanted to beat the other driver.

Project D's leader glanced in Takumi's direction. He was leaning up against the track for the garage door, zoned out again, as he tended to do. Ryosuke smiled to himself, the kid would get his chance, he knew it.

That night the members of the Duke of Windsor gathered at the barn as they did at least once a week. Because it was outfitted with everything they needed to take of the cars it was easier than going to the shop and having people drive up looking for them to pump gas, or inflate tires. They had what they needed, and they talked as the worked, of course about the inevitable races against Project D. Mike let the other three go at it for awhile, thinking the whole time about where the best matchups really were. Of course his teammates would listen to him, he was really the unofficial leader of the group, but there were some things that just didn't make sense. For some reason Mike was irrationally focused on beating Takumi and his mythical 86. It just didn't seem to be possible that someone had built up such a reputation as an awesome driver in a car like that.

The fact that Mike wanted to beat Takumi so bad through the whole scenario really out of whack. Theoretically Mike and John would be better matched up against the yellow RX-7 and the Skyline, leaving Fox to face the Corolla, and Molly to take on the Silvia. Mike cradled his chin in his hand, rubbing the stubble there slightly, that was what made the most sense, but it was not what he wanted, he was going to beat Takumi, and that was final. The only way to solve this was to let Fox and John decide.

"The Skyline is severely overrated!" Fox said emphatically, it was the first thing that Mike herd when he snapped out of his deep thinking. "If it is such a superior car then why hasn't Nissan officially imported them to the United States? Because they know that a stock Skyline GT-R will not match up against the latest Mustang, Corvette, Camaro, or Firebird, and if in the even that it does it will be way to expensive to be competing against cars in the $20-30,000 market."

"But their still awesome machines, and I don't know where you've been Fox, but you should take the time to read some magazine articles, especially the ones from Europe that can get their hands on one." John said.

"Well, its good see you guys are talking about our opponents, I really can't come to the decision of what the matchups should be, so here goes." Mike paused, and took a deep breath. "Who wants to take on the Skyline?"

"Me!" Fox shouted almost before Mike had finished the sentence.

"Alright then, you boys have fun." Molly said. Mike looked at her wide eyed.

"You mean you're not going?" Mike asked Molly had been to every race since they had been a team.

"I didn't say that." She answered, "I'm just not going to race Friday night, I mean who would I race, that kid with the red Nissan, come on. It's almost completely stock, and I know he's supposed to have some awesome technique and all that but I'd still just run away, that just doesn't sound like a challenge to me." Molly shrugged. "But of course if he decides to challenge me. . ." She let the end of the sentence go unfinished, as they all knew their one cardinal rule; The Dukes of Windsor never turned down a challenge for a race.

Mike didn't say anything, a slight feeling of guilt coming over him as he looked once more at the Cobra vs. 86 matchup. It was really tantamount to using a sledge hammer to kill a butterfly. He shook it off anyways, it wouldn't have mattered if the kid had decided to challenge him out of the blue at Wendy's one night, but then he wouldn't have had time to think about it either. The kid was good, and he had a full fledged racing motor sitting under the hood of his car, it was something different.

"Ok, then. John I think you should take the yellow RX-7." Mike said, John looked back; he didn't really care as long as he got his chance to prove himself. "The RX-7 is twin turbocharged, so I think your car with the supercharger will be a better match than my car. Especially since we have a weight advantage over all their cars to begin with." Mike paused. "I guess that leaves the Corolla for me." He smiled, but that was the way he had wanted it. For some reason Takumi had already attained some mythical status among the Tuner kids in the area, it might have been because it was the first place that anyone in the area had seen drifting, or it might have been because he ousted a modified 300 ZX, but it all came down to the fact the Mike was completely willing to put a stop to it, no matter how the kid had gotten his reputation.

It wasn't going to be easy, the kid was good, and Mike and his team had gotten to know the members of Project D more than they had know any other challenger. The Project D boys were much better than the normal punk tuner kids who showed up and didn't understand the first thing about racing. These guys knew their stuff, and Mike respected them for that. So what they went about making performance cars another way, and so what that it didn't really seem like performance to Mike, but they had done a good job of it.

It was going to be a challenge. It was going to be fun.

 

* * *

 

Friday came quickly for both teams, for both groups it was the opportunity they had been waiting for, to prove how good they were to everyone who would witness it. Towards the end of the day Mike made his way over to where Ryosuke and the other members of Project D were working.

"How you doing Ryosuke?" Mike asked.

"Not bad, and you?"

"Alright. Seems like you guys have been going at it hard the last couple of days." Mike said.

"Yeah, we're going hunting for the Dukes of Windsor tonight. If we don't find them then on Monday we're heading for someplace else. We can't spend all out time in one place looking for one team.

"Understandable." Mike said, and he looked at the smooth concrete floor, "Before you folks head out would you like to go to a cruising night with Molly, John, Fox and Me tomorrow afternoon. Give you guys a chance to check out some American Muscle up close and personal."

"Is it a place where people go to race?" Ryosuke asked, thinking that if the Dukes of Windsor didn't show up at Wendy's they might be at the other place the following night.

"No no," Mike said, "At most of them they really frown upon things like that, so the cops don't get mad and all." Mike shrugged, "It's really just an excuse to go and show off your car, have some good food and talk to car people."

"Sounds good." Ryosuke said, "I'll run it buy the guys I'm sure they'll want to go."

"So do you know where you guys will be heading next?"

"We hadn't really thought about it, but I was hoping you might be able help us out that way, you know the area better than we do, so how about it?"

"Of course." Mike said. "Just give me some time to find a place, but hey I gotta get back to work. I'll see you guys tonight." Mike smiled and walked away.

Just before taking off for the night Ryosuke headed towards the shop office, he stopped mid stride when he saw someone he didn't recognize standing behind the cash register.

"Hi." The clerk said. "Looking for Mike?"

"Yes." Ryosuke answered, the whole time wondering weather the clock in the shop was wrong, or whether they had just lost track of time and stayed latter than they should have.

"Yeah, the day crew took off early, headed to Wendy's for the races tonight." The clerk offered. "You got money for Mike?"

"Of course." Ryosuke responded looking down at the green bills in his hand. "Could you make sure that Mike gets this?"

"Yeah, you got it chief." The clerk said taking the money form Ryosuke. "Good luck tonight." The clerk said with a slanted smile.

 

* * *

 

Mike, Molly, John and Fox sat on the curb opposite their cars. With any luck the members of Project D would walk right up to the cars, and straight past the drivers.

"When the hell are these guys going to get here?" Fox said, throwing a pebble across the parking lot in disgust.

"We did leave work wicked early." Mike said.

"I know, but still. I want to grind that Skyline into the ground!" Fox answered, sulking a little at the prospect of being passed over.

"Here they come!" Some one yelled, pointing towards the intersection. Mike fought the urge to get up, he already knew what they drove. Within a few minutes the Project D cars had circled the parking lot. It wasn't much longer before the drivers came around and were looking over the Duke of Windsor cars.

"That's the car that kept coming after me." Takumi said.

"Yeah, that's the one." Ryosuke answered.

Takumi's eyes narrowed, his body tensed. "He's mine." Takumi growled, clenching his fist. "Whose car is this?" Takumi called louder than before.

"It's mine." A familiar voice called form behind them.

Takumi turned slowly as did the rest of the members of Project D.


	9. The Fox and The Skyline

Click- _clank._ Click- _clank,_ they herd as they turned around. The collective gasp from the members of Project D was clearly audible the 15 or so feet away that Mike and company stood. Mike lit a cigarette as the competition stared blankly back at them. Click- _clank,_ went the top on Mike's Zippo.

Ryosuke looked across the parking lot. Almost as soon as they'd begun renting out the garage from Mike he had know that at least Mike was involved in the local racing scene, but he hadn't imagined something like this. Not only had Mike and the others been able to nab all the technical data on their cars, but Ryosuke had given Mike a demonstration on drifting. No doubt that would come back to haunt them.

Keisuke was the first to recover. "You bastard!" He said clenching his fist, Takumi stared at him, eyes narrow, but didn't say anything.

"Sorry kid." Mike said. "I saw a chance to get a decided advantage and I took it. Don't take it personally."

"Hey you guys going to race, or gab all night?" One of the people from the crowd chimed in, followed by a chorus of like minded jeers.

"Yeah, of course." Mike said.

"It's your home turf, so how is this going to happen?" Ryosuke asked.

"Alright." Mike began. "Three races. Fox is going to take the Skyline over Granite Street in Medway, to Farm Street in Bellingham, its short. The next two races are on Populatic, John, then me. The yellow RX-7 and the Corolla." Mike said.

"Sounds good." Ryosuke said, it would work perfectly for his plan. Mike was keenly aware that all the members save possibly Ryosuke were staring him down. Mike stepped forward.

"Let's race!" He shouted and all over the parking lot people began to murmur.

"This is it."

"The Dukes of Windsor against the Japanese All Stars!"

"This is going to be awesome!"

Mike fired up his Cobra and followed Fox from the parking lot, Nakazato and Ryosuke followed behind Mike, while the other members of both teams headed for the finish line or other points along the course.

Fox backed his Mustang into the same starting position he had a few weeks earlier against the Eclipse. The last race had been easy, this one would be another matter entirely. The black Skyline GT-R backed down the narrow space between the guard rail and the Mustang. The motor burbled at idle, any quick jab from Nakazato's foot sent the revs shooting higher, eliciting turbo snaps and hisses. It was going to be a lot different.

Mike knelt down next to Fox's driver's side door.

"Fox you remember the strategy we came up with to stop them from drifting?" Mike asked in a whisper.

"Of course I do. You want me to use it?"

"Absolutely, anything you can do to upset his rhythm. Good luck." Mike thumped the roof of Fox's car. "Hey, Nakazato." Mike called, the driver of the Skyline looked over. "Good Luck!" Mike said.

"Alright, Nakazato." Ryosuke said, kneeling down next beside the black GT-R. "Listen up. They will have come up with a plan to stop us from drifting. So I want you to hang back until the first real turn. Stay close but leave some room, so that when he jacks the brakes you can just go around him, and after that you're all set." Ryosuke said. Nakazato nodded. _How can he possibly know that?_ Nakazato thought, but he would follow Ryosuke's instructions regardless, he was right more often than not. Nakazato had learned that quickly.

The two cars idled at the starting line, the Skyline's almost gentle hum creating a strange counterpoint to the Mustangs V8 rumble. Mike smirked to himself, this was the match up that Fox had wanted, and if the strategy worked the way that Mike thought it would Fox would have the race won easily. The starter took his position at the side of the road.

His hand went up.

"Ready!" He yelled, and the two monsters revved their engines. "Set. . .Go!" He yelled as he dropped his hand.

Tires squeeled, engines roared as almost 700 horsepower was collectively unleashed on the narrow New England road. The red Mustang jumped out to an early lead just as Mike thought it would..

"Ha ha!" Fox yelled as his car rocketed into the lead. _There's nor replacement for displacement._ He thought as the Skyline's headlights got smaller in the rearview mirror.

Nakazato gripped the steering wheel a little tighter as he shifted into third gear. _Have your fun now boy, cuz at the first turn this race is over!_ Nakazato thought. It seemed almost a shame, as the first corner approached very quickly. Nakazato knew he would win, he wanted to string it out though, play with the Mustang learn about how the American raced. But he had his orders from Ryosuke.

_ The starting line. _

"I wish we knew more about these cars that they're driving." Fumihiro said to Ryosuke. "I mean going in blind against well established racers?"

"It's alright." Ryosuke responded. "Nakazato will win." He said with his usual calm confidence.

"How can you say that?" Fumihiro asked.

"Because Mike seemed very intent on getting information about drifting after Takumi's first race. The only reason for wanting such information besides to learn how to do it would be to develop a plan to stop it. And how would you do that Fumihiro?" He didn't answer right away, it wasn't the most evident thing, and when that was combined with Ryosuke's usually cryptic way of speaking it was even less apparent.

"It's really simple." He began. "The best way to stop an opponent is to upset his rhythm, so how would you upset someone's rhythm who employs drift?"

Suddenly the light bulb clicked on above Fumihiro's head. "If they're behind you, you could do it by hitting the brakes." Fumihiro answered quickly.

"Now do you see why this tactic won't work against Nakazato?"

_ The first turn. _

The Skyline still lagged back a ways, but not as far as Fox would have liked. He also hadn't been able to put anymore ground on his opponent since the start of the race. The first turn approached quickly. Fox moved to the inside and hit the brakes hard and early.

Nakazato saw the first turn coming, the Mustang moved to the inside. All of the sudden, and way to early the brake lights came on and the Mustang slowed rapidly. Nakazato tapped the brakes and moved to the outside. Once he had committed to the turn he nailed the accelerator the ATTESA E-TS took over and put power to the front wheels to help pull the GT-R through the turn. Nakazato smiled to himself. Ryosuke had been right, as always was. Keeping constant throttle input Nakazato cranked the wheel over and allowed all the advanced electronics to help the car through the turn. He had learned early on that one of the worst things that could be done in the GT-R was to take your foot off the gas in midturn as it caused the ATTESA E-TS to kill the power to the front wheels inducing understear.

"Shit!" Fox uttered as he grabbed the shifter and slammed it back down into second gear. The damn Skyline had gotten by. He now found himself playing catch-up to a set of four afterburner taillights. Tires squeeled as Fox accelerated hard out of the turn in an effort to catch up with the Skyline. The other car moved quickly through the turns, quicker then almost anything Fox had seen, except for Mike and John's cars. The mighty Ford 5.0 didn't seem to keep pace on the short straight sections either. "That bastard didn't drift." Fox uttered as he linked the short S turns together. The hills would be coming soon.

"Exactly Fumihiro." Ryosuke said. "I told Nakazato to purposely allow the Mustang some room, that way there, when he hits the brakes hard to throw off Nakazato's drift. Nakazato would have the room to adjust and make a move to pass. It's really an easy win." Ryosuke said.

 

* * *

 

Fox picked up some space as the two cars rocketed through the hilly section. It had taken Fox years of practice to get the braking and acceleration points down, not to mention the fact that the Skyline is heavier which means more weight unloading and loading as the suspension goes through the range of motion over the quick hills. By the last hill Fox had almost caught up.

 

* * *

 

"Hey Ryosuke?" Mike said as he walked up to Ryosuke and Fumihiro. "No hard feelings about keeping this from you guys?" Mike asked hopefully.

"I would have done the same thing." Ryosuke admitted with a shrug.

"Also." Mike said. "When we found out that you guys were in town I knew we would race. And when we did I didn't think it was going to be on even footing if you guys were still trying to tune cars in the parking lot of a hotel."

"I guess that seems fare."

"I just wanted to know that when we raced you guys would be at the top of your game." Mike said. "And I suppose its besides the points, but it was good to have you guys around." Mike extended his hand.

"Don't think we won't do the same if you guys ever find your way to Japan." Ryosuke grasped Mike's hand firmly.

"Good luck tonight." Mike said as he walked towards the Cobra. "Don't worry you get all the info you want about her tomorrow." Mike winked at the leader of Project D.

"Bullshit!" Fumihiro muttered under his breath.

"What?" Ryosuke asked.

"All that crap about being equal and all liking us around." He paused. "Is bullshit."

"No," Ryosuke said, he had his famous contemplative look on his face. "Mike's a good man, he means what he says."

 

* * *

 

Nakazato chuckled to himself as he glanced into his rearview mirror. The Mustang was still back there and keeping up, but he wasn't going to get by. There wasn't even that much of a race left.

The two cars crested the last hill, as soon as it was safe to do so both cars hammered on the gas, headed at high speed towards the end of the street. Engines burbled and turbos cracked as the two cars decelerated to take the 90 degree right hand turn. Fox tried to move inside, but Nakazato blocked him out. The two cars now rocketed down Farm Street.

Quickly the road dropped away and began to twist again as it headed towards the Interstate 495 bridge. Fox brought his Mustang as close as he could to the bumper of Nakazato's Skyline as they moved towards the next turn. The road was still to narrow to pass safely and Fox knew it, but he also knew he couldn't afford to lose anymore ground to the other driver.

The Mustangs lights were still big in Nakazato's rearview, much bigger than he had wanted. _There's more to that can than I thought_. Nakazato ground his teeth as he braked to enter the next turn. He hit the gas and powered through. It took skill to drive a car with no electronic controls and Takumi's 86, or even the Mustang that followed him at that moment, and the Mustang had no doubt that the Dukes of Windsor were top notch racers now. But by the same token it also took a lot of skill to get the vehicles full potential, and skills, and skills Nakazato has.

Tires squealed as the two cars moved through the turns. No matter how much Fox tried he couldn't seem to corner with the Skyline. The car was gripping just as it always had, if not better, but the Skyline always seemed to maintain an advantage in the turns, as if the wheels were glued to the road. Not only was Fox running one of the best laps he'd ever turned, but he was far more focused than he had been in a long time, it had been hard to find anyone as good as Nakazato in the local talent pool. At least that was among the people who were still foolish enough to think they could beat the Dukes of Windsor, but these guys might just be able to do it.

If it hadn't been for the afterburner taillights and the high powered driving lights Fox wouldn't know where the Skyline was as he entered the wide left turn going over the Highway. Just like before Fox knew that Nakazato would not be able to block the whole width of the road. Entering the turn Nakazato held the accelerator almost constant, allowing the ATTESA E-TS to do their work and pull the beastly Skyline GT-R through the turn. The advanced electronics helped Nakazato open a gap, and it kept growing as the turn continued. Both cars straightened out, and Fox with room to makeup, downshifted and put the gas peddle to the floor. The rear tires squealed as they struggled slightly to reign in the power from the Ford 302. With the motor residing in Fox's Mustang lacked in horsepower it almost made up for in torque. Compared to the Skyline t made up for its lack of horsepower in an abundance of torque as cubic inches is the best way to get torque. Fox shifted and put the peddle to the floor again. He didn't usually drive that way, but this was his last opportunity and he knew it.

The red Mustang gained on the GT-R, pulling even with it just about halfway across the bridge. The two machines stayed even for awhile before the Mustang started to get ahead. By the time they slowed to enter the left hand turn that followed the bridge Fox had almost cleared the nose of the Skyline. Fox sat on the inside of the left hander, waiting for the second he would be able to slide up and block Nakazato from passing him. Nakazato began to inch closer, and then eventually ahead of the Mustang. A quick jab on the brakes slowed the cars down to take the right hand turn that followed right after the left hander. Nakazato pulled ahead, now having the inside line, again he let the front wheels pulls the car through the turns and powered ahead of the Mustang. Nakazato powered out of the turn onto the straight away, RB26 singing and the twin turbos whistling in tune.

Fox banged his fist off the steering wheel angrily, yelling a string of obscenities as Nakazato and his black Skyline took the lead again, it wasn't long to the finish line. Both high performance machines went flat out as they approached the finish line. On the upshift Fox gained some ground as the revs dropped back into the meatiest part of the torque band, but Nakazato continued to gain ground as the RB26 approached the bloodline at 8,000 RPM, nothing revved like an RB26

Spectators and cars could be seen on the front lawns as the two racers approached the finish line.

"Oh my God, the Skyline's going to win!"

"Fox hasn't lost in months!" Someone else yelled as the cars roared past, close together.

Molly and John stood at the Finish line, not to surprised after the Skyline crossed the finish line just ahead of the Mustang. After all it was the topgun of Japanese performance cars, and with close to 400 horsepower it was at least an even match for Fox's Mustang.

Nakazato let out a sigh of relief, regretting having thought Fox would go down easy. He was an excellent driver, tat much was sure. He had kept pace well and without the acid of advanced computer controls, and all wheel drive, and the next two drivers up were only going to be tougher. . .

 

* * *

 

_ The Starting Line _

"Hello?" Ryosuke answered his cell phone. "He won good. . . It was that close? . .He must be good. . .Alright, well see you at Populatic.

Fumihiro looked at Ryosuke, even only hearing one end of the conversation he knew Nakazato had won, but it had been close. Probably closer than they had thought. That was to be expected, they had years of time on this course and knew it like any of the Red Suns knew Akagi. But Project D had something the Duke of Windsor didn't; Takahashi Ryosuke.

"Shit!" Fox said as he slammed the drivers door of his Mustang shut. He looked at Molly and John standing nearby. "Don't say a word!" He pointed at Molly as he growled, there was a fire in his eyes that wasn't normally there.

"Who me?" Molly shrugged. "Never."

"I would have won if he had drifted." Fox said angrily defensive.

"What?" John gasped, "He didn't drift?"

"Nope, when I jacked the brakes going into the first turn he just went the fuck around me." Fox dropped his arms to his side in exasperation.

"What the hell are we going to do then? Mike came up with that plan and it should work, it makes sense, but what if the don't drift all the turns, how do we know which turns to employ the plan on?" John said thinking about his race against Keisuke that would be taking place very shortly.

Nakazato walked over from where he had parked his GT-R with the other Project D cars. "Good race." He said, extending his hand to Fox, who took it begrudgingly.

"Yeah, you too." Fox grunted. "Why didn't you drift? I thought you all did it over in Japan."

"Nah," Nakazato said, "The GT-R has all wheel drive, and advanced traction control, so its not really beneficial to drift."

"Huh, so its not just a glorified Subaru?" Fox asked.

"Nope." Nakazato answered. "Not even Imprezas can keep up with my GT-R." Nakazato said proudly. "But you made it a very good race, much better than the competition that we've come across."

"Tell me about it." Fox said. "You guys are definitely above all those kids who think throwing big rims and an exhaust tip make a Civic a performance car."

"It bothers you guys too?" Nakazato said with a little surprise in his voice.

"Hey Nakazato?" Kenta called. "Stop fraternizing with the enemy. Ryosuke says good work, and its time to head out to Populatic!"

"Alright. I'll be right there." Nakazato turned back to John. "Good luck, you're going to need it."


	10. Spyder and The FD

Mike and Ryosuke were the first to arrive at Populatic. They sat in the small parking lot that was reserved for the racing teams that would be taking on the course that night. The two team leaders sat in the respective cars; the time for pleasantries had passed. Both team leaders knew no matter what you called it the first race had been a match up of second stringers, now was the beginning of the real races, what everyone in the area had come to see. For the racers of the surrounding towns who had lost to either team in the past it was no longer a matter of who won so much as it was about national pride, depending of course on where you car was made. This for all intents and purposes was the street racing Olympics played out by two teams. Team USA and Team Japan.

Shortly after the rest of the Dukes of Windsor arrived, followed closely by the other members of Project D. Fox did his best to restrain himself from running to the side of Mike's car. Mike knew by the look on his friend's face that something was up. He stepped out the Cobra and lit a cigarette.

"Mike! Mike!" John said as he headed towards the Cobra. "We got a problem!"

"Hold on." Mike said holding up his hand. "What the hell is going on?"

"Fukcin' Nakazato didn't drift, he took all the turns the way we do. He grips all the turns but his damn car rides like it's on fuckin' rails!" Fox said.

"Chill out, calm down.' Mike said, holding up his hands again. "So the fuck what?" He eventually said.

"Are you serious? What are you talking about Mike? I just lost to someone because of a plan we came up with to stop them from drifting, and he didn't fuckin' drift!" Fox continued to get agitated because he thought Mike wasn't listening.

"I hear what you're saying Fox. There's nothing to worry about. It's a race, and we just race like we've always done." Mike said. "That's all we can do."

"So what, we're not going to use the plan." John asked.

"I didn't say that." Mike responded, taking a drag from his cigarette. "We can still use the plan, but we just have to be selective about where we use it. The turn around we can't use it on because they don't drift there because its to narrow, or on the off camber turn. Most importantly John you need to fast on the straight-aways. This is where your best advantage is going to be, so straighten out the turns, and just put the hammer down. But remember, the turn around, and the off camber they won't drift on." Mike looked his companion straight in the eye, there was much more tension built up than in their past races. The tension of the spectators had permeated to the competitors. That was why Mike was the leader of the Dukes of Windsor, not because he was the fastest, but because he always had the plan, and he kept his cool on the outside regardless of how he felt on the inside. Mike shook his finger at his number two. "These guys are just like anybody else we've ever raced, it's not like we've never beat someone driving an RX-7. The Skyline, alright we've never seen one of those, we didn't know what to expect. But and RX-7? Come one we've seen that. We can do this John, you can do this!"

"Right!" John answered eyes narrowing behind glasses, "We can do this. We're the Dukes of Windsor, and nobody beats us on our home turf."

"Now that's what I'm talking about! Let's give it another couple of minutes." Mike said. "Don't want people to be disappointed if they show up late." Mike smiled, and winked at John.

The rest of Project D had arrived at the small parking lot. Ryosuke stood next to his car and waited for the rest of the team to come to him. Nakazato walked up with a smile on his face, it was defiantly a good decision to bring him, and his GT-R to America.

"Good job Nakazato." Ryosuke said taking a drag of his cigarette.

"Thanks." Nakazato responded.

"So what can you tell us?" Ryosuke asked. Not having the Dukes of Windsor to watch made it harder to prepare a plan, to analyze them, to pinpoint their weaknesses the way he had done so well in the past. He had confidence in his drivers, especially in his Double Aces.

"They're good," Nakazato began, "I know they didn't throw their best out there against me, but Fox is a really good driver, he was fast on the straight sections, and his car handled well, better then I would have thought with the parameters we had."

"That's alright. We knew they would be souped up." Ryosuke responded.

"Yeah, he accelerated really well. I think he might have had turbos, although it didn't sound like it." Nakazato offered.

"No they don't like turbochargers on most American performance cars. A supercharger maybe, but no turbo." Ryosuke said knowing full well that the acceleration could be attributed to the fact that the Mustangs motor was just about twice the size of the GT-Rs. Ryosuke looked to his brother, who seemed to be cool and calm just before his first real test in America. He smoked a cigarette as he leaned against is yellow FD. "Keisuke." Ryosuke nodded to get his brother to come closer.

"Yes brother?" Keisuke asked.

"How do you feel about this race?" Ryosuke asked.

"I feel good." The younger Takahashi brother answered, a little agitated. "I'm going to win." He said confidently.

"Alright, good." Ryosuke said. "There's not much I can tell you." Ryosuke said, looking at the ground. "The Americans like large displacement, and they are going to tend to be faster on the straight sections, but you can be faster in the turns. If you're fast on exit you can use the momentum to carry you into the straightaways. And if you can be fast entering that's even better. But remember don't try to flat outrun him, it will be a push, get him in the turns. Alright?"

"Yes, I can do this no problem. Their old Mustang suspensions won't be able to cope with the technology under my car." Keisuke said.

"Alright. Good luck brother." Ryosuke looked at his younger brother as he made his way back towards his FD. Keisuke had progressed a long way from the time when Project D had started, as had almost the entire team, but the progress from Ryosuke made him proud, it was his brother, his blood and flesh. Clearly the Takahashi's were among the best racers in all of Japan.

 

* * *

 

John's GT Spyder rolled up to the starting line, next to Keisuke's FD. The supercharger fitted to John's car whirred away as it sat at idle. The GT Spyder looked like a Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe, just in convertible form, painted in raven black with gold Le Mans stripes. The moon glinted off the top of the fenders as they sloped down towards the front of John's car. John's car sat lower than the FD, and with the small block Ford V8 set well back in the chassis it was a very well balanced car, the supercharger providing the performance of an old Ford big block. Highpowered driving lights from both car illuminated the trees and the road that lay ahead of the two.

Keisuke looked out his window down at the other car, it was strange, something he'd never seen before, but what was even stranger he thought was how close he was to his opponent. There was only about a half a foot separating the two drivers as the right hand driver FD and the left hand drive GT Spyder lined up placing the drivers close to the center of the road. It was nothing different than before, it would be like racing in Japan, except not down a mountain, flat and level.

The starter took his position at the front of the two cars. All except for the smallest snatches of conversation had stopped as the gathered spectators waited for the race to begin. The starter raised his hand, John gripped the stearing wheel tightly with both hands, nervous with anticipation. The starters hand dropped! John punched the gas and popped the clutch. The mighty 302 roared, but the tires squealed billowing white tire smoke for a handful of seconds before John let off the gas. Keisuke on the other hand had an almost perfect launch with minimal tire spin the yellow FD shot off into the night with the GT Spyder not far behind.

"Haha! Keisuke's gonna win!" Kenta yelled towards the rest of the Dukes of Windsor. Mike glared in the kid's direction, but said nothing, their guy did have the lead, and that would make it hard for John to deal with.

Keisuke was around the first and headed down the straightaway before John's lights appeared in his rear view mirror. The lights seemed to bounce and jitter as the car drove over road imperfections. Both cars opened up on the straightaway. John's GT Spyder closing some of the considerable gap that Keisuke had opened up. John waited a little longer than his counterpart to apply the brakes, he knew he needed to pick up some room as it was awhile before they hit the straightaways that would give him his best advantage.

The rear end of Keisuke's FD slid out as he entered the first of the pair of 90 degree turns. Keisuke skillfully applied the accelerator to control the rear end, he cranked over the steering wheel giving the car more throttle to bring the rear around to the opposite direction. John followed in the GT Spyder, marginally slower as he gripped both turns, and accelerated hard as the left turn continues. The 302 wailed away as John chased the yellow FD.

The left hand turn followed quickly into a right. Keisuke gripped the turn, as the width of the road made it unsafe to drift at race speeds. Keisuke exited the turn quickly and put the pedal to the floor accelerating down the Narrows.

 

* * *

 

Mike looked at Molly and Fox, they both stood their, slightly aghast at what they had just seen. Off in the distance engines roared and tires squealed as the two cars continued their duel off into the night. The people who had come to cheer the Dukes of Windsor were quiet accept for a few snatches of conversation. While those who came for Project D were loud and exuberant.

"This isn't good." Fox muttered.

"What, that John didn't jump into the lead at the beginning of the race? Oh come on, he can do this." Mike said. "It's no big deal, so John was a little nervous and lit 'em up at the beginning of the race, so what?" Mike looked off in the direction the two cars had headed, almost willing the trees to part even just long enough so he could get a glimpse of how his friend was fairing. He feared though that the only thing he would catch a glimpse of was a set of RX-7 taillights disappearing into the night.

 

* * *

 

"Go Keisuke!" Kenta cheered, jumping into the air pumping his fist. Ryosuke rolled his eyes, who got the lead at the beginning of the race didn't determine the winner, and Kenta knew it too, but having the initial lead was did have its up side. And clearly the other driver was nervous, or not as experienced as they had thought. Ryosuke leaned more towards the former, it would cause John to possibly make mistakes that he normally wouldn't. Of course it was also possible that Fox had been the more experienced driver and that was why they had put him up against the GT-R. Either way Keisuke was behind the wheel and he knew what he was doing.

 

* * *

 

John accelerated as hard as his tires would let him through The Narrows, headed towards the off Camber turn. The effort to catch the yellow FD, which by that point had close to a two second lead. The thrill and feeling of hard acceleration from a V-8 that pulls at your mid-section, making it harder to breathe. But John was focused on the taillights that he was able to see ahead of him from time to time.

Again John hit the breaks hard and late as he entered the off Camber turn having picked up some time on Keisuke. He downshifted and headed towards the top of the small hill close behind the FD. John stabbed the brakes as he made the right hand turn and headed down the hill. He caught sight of Keisuke's FD at the bottom of the hill. John mashed the gas, never touching the brakes as he came down the hill headed towards the stop sign and the right turn that heads down to the cul-de-sac. John took the turn at nearly full throttle, the supercharger screaming as he climbed the small hill that fallows the slight left hand turn. He up shifted and charged forwarded towards the FD.

Keisuke glanced in his rear view mirror and saw the headlights from John's car still back there and closing in. _He's going to get passed you on the straights_. Keisuke remembered what his brother said. Keisuke gave more gas, the turbos blow off valve cracking as he let off the gas to shift to fourth gear. The two cars were now on the straight away that passed in front of Norfolk airport, it wasn't the longest on the course, but by its end, John was on the bumper of Keisuke's FD.

John new that he would be able to out accelerate the RX-7 on exit from a turn, but that was when the two drivers had the same driving style but Keisuke didn't use the same driving style. John moved out from behind the RX-7, to take the inside line on the upcoming left hand turn. John hit the breaks, heel-and-toe downshifting on approach to the turn.

Keisuke, on the other hand, tapped the brakes, heel-and-toe downshifting as he hit the gas again sending his car into an inertia drift, John startled by how close the RX-7 came to clipping the front of his car stood on the brakes a moment longer. He recovered quickly and punched the gas accelerating through the turn. Both high performance machines charged forward once more, a match of forced induction.

The rearview mirror again showed how close John and his GT Spyder were to the backside of Keisuke's FD. Keisuke half glared back at John through the mirror as he accelerated over the Charles River causeway. Keisuke narrowed his eyes, _I'm not like all the useless people you have around here, I'm a real racer._

John knew the next left hand turn was coming, and he didn't want to risk being blocked by the RX-7 again, John hit the gas and broke out form behind Keisuke. The GT Spyder hunkered down, and the sound of the motor jumped an octave with the sudden hard acceleration. Keisuke saw the move coming, but John acted so fast that his nose was past the FD's bumper and Keisuke couldn't block him. He ground his teeth and hammered on the FD's accelerator. With 350 horsepower on tap there weren't many cars in Japan that Keisuke couldn't run with, but here in America, it was another thing entirely, Johns car topped out over 450 horsepower, and was lighter to boot, with more than 100 extra horse power the FD just couldn't keep up on the straight away. If It weren't for the metallic flecks in the gold racing stripes, and the marker lights the car would have been impossible to see. Keisuke pushed down on the accelerator a little more, in the hopes of catching up with John

John didn't have as much time to build up a lead as he would have liked but it gave him some time especially when the next turn had led to another of the long straight-aways. Besides the initial section of the Populatic course had three other sizeable straight-aways. The left turn that linked into the last of the long straight-aways came up fast. John hit the brakes downshifting as he approached. He turned in just barley missing the dirt shoulder by an inch or two.

From a little ways back Keisuke saw the maneuver and grinned to himself, as he set up for the turn. He would get him through the twisty section that would be coming up. Keisuke used a braking drift this time as the turn was tighter, being thrown towards the side of the car as it slid sideways. He had timed it perfectly and stomped the gas to launch the FD back in pursuit of the Dukes of Windsor's team member two.

The GT spider charged into the night, leaving the RX-7 farther behind him. Just after exiting the turn John glanced in his rearview mirror in time to see the yellow RX-7 jump out of the turn and stormed towards his bumper. His eyes got a little big as he realized that Keisuke's RX-7 was not like any of the others they had faced before, and that Keisuke himself was at a higher level then so many of John's previous competitors.

Again the other car began to open a gap, as Keisuke knew he would, but that didn't bother him, he would be faster through the next couple of stretches and by the time they hit the last section he would be so far ahead that John wouldn't be able to make up the difference . There were a few minor turns on the mostly straight sections, turns that could be taken near full throttle without the threat of losing control. Keisuke clipped the apex of such turns as he continued his hunt for the GT Spyder.

 

* * *

 

The starting Line

Takumi looked at his Panda Trueno. The same car he'd been driving for more than five years now, delivering tofu, and racing in the mountains of Japan. It was the same car, mostly. He glanced over to his opponents. Mike stood next to his car, with Molly and Fox close by. He'd never seen anything like that before, but Ryosuke seemed to know something about it and he seemed confident that Takumi could do the job.

As Takumi stood their and watched his soon to be opponent. Anger welled up in him; he clenched his fists and ground his teeth as he thought about what Mike and the others had been doing. How they doopped Project D into putting everything out in the open for them to observe. Hell, they'd even answered questions about their cars when Mike had asked. Takumi couldn't help but feel cheated. This being the fist time that they knew who the Dukes of Windsor were, but the Dukes of Windsor knew just about everything they needed to. Takumi kept his emotions under control as he waited his turn to prove himself against the Dukes of Windsor, but inside he was as angry as he'd ever been.

 

* * *

 

Keisuke drifted the last left turnoff of the last long straight away. He put the gas on the floor and charged ahead. The small rectangular brake/marker lights of the GT spider drew closer. After an almost imperceptible left hand the Keisuke gripped, the road widen and moved into a long sweeping right hand turn.

The Dukes of Windsor member two driver hugged the inside line, while Keisuke, using the weight shift from the last turn inertia drifted modulating the throttle and steering wheal to control the car at the limit. The gap that John had built up quickly shrunk. John glanced into his rearview mirror as the lights from the car behind him lit up his cockpit and instrument cluster, There, much closer than he had any right to be was the yellow RX-7. John tapped the brakes and cranked over the steering wheel to the left as the right hand sweeper terminated on a 90 degree left. It didn't seem possible that the RX-7 could close the gap, but there was, breathing right down John's neck. A little distracted John applied the gas, a little to much, and a little to soon. Tires squealed and John could feel it in the seat of his pants as the rear end slid out. Keisuke on the other hand executed the reverse drift and exited the turn on John's bumper again.

Both cars accelerated like crazy, the high pitched almost whine of the 13B rotary mingling with the roar of the Windsor V8. Keisuke followed John closely through a series of short turns. He knew where he was going to make his move, at the end of the sequence of short turns there was a left handed hairpin, again the road got wider. Keisuke took the outside line. John had moved to the outside to apex the turn as straight as possible, but Keisuke just continued he line, sliding sideways and around the black and gold GT Spyder. The closing of the turn narrows back down as it climbs another hill, Keisuke tightened his line in his yellow FD, coming within inches of the front bumper of John's machine.

John gasped and glitched for a second as Keisuke's RX-7 slid in front of him. He lifted his foot off the gas not wanting to risk a collision he tapped the brakes before punching the accelerator to followed his opponent up the hill. The top of the hill came quickly and both cars were headed downhill towards a sharp left hander. John poured on the power, again in pursuit of one of Japan's best racers. He heal and toe downshifted as he decelerated to take the turn Keisuke drifted again.

Another sweeping right hand turn followed as it climbed another hill, headed towards the turn around at this point John knew he had very view places to pass again. There was always the last straightaway, but to gamble and leave the whole race to pivot on a comparatively short stretch of road. John kept as close as he could to the car in front of him, the problem was he kept losing ground as they went through another series of quick turns.

The lights from his opponent still bounced in the rearview as Keisuke led the way towards the turn around. Keisuke knew that the Dukes of Windsor were fully aware of the locations where it was impractical to drift. Takumi had let all of the members of Project D know when he'd been jumped while practicing. Keisuke spotted the turn around ahead. From the way the headlights moved in his mirror he knew that John was going to try and pass on the inside again. Keisuke positioned his FD squarely in the middle of the road, effectively blocking John, as there was no room to get his nose inside the rear of the FD.

A sense of desperation gripped John as he saw the RX-7 block his inside line, there would be almost no time to make a move. John followed the Project D ace as they both executed the turn around. Both drivers were pushing close to the limit as their motors wailed away into the night. All over the course people had come to watch. They gasped at Keisuke's expert display of drifting, and to the many that had seen John drive before they knew he was pushing it harder than he ever had before. They stared knowing that even for the few moments that they got to watch the cars fly by, that they were watching history.

_ He's good, real good.  _ Keisuke silently complimented his opponent as they headed up the hill and down past the turn that led to the Cul-de-sac. Again the two competitors stormed up a hill, John in his GT Spyder nipping at the heals of Keisuke's FD. The two cars crested the hill and headed towards the off camber turn. _He's going to try the inside again._ Keisuke thought as he positioned his car to take the inside line. John saw that the off camber was one of his last opportunities to regain the lead. Both cars headed into the turn faster than they had coming the opposite direction. John moved into the outside line while Keisuke continued to hug the inside. John gained ground as Keisuke had to slow to maintain his grip, and prevent his car from sliding into John's. The two cars were neck and neck and John thought he was going to get past. After that it would all be easy, the Narrows, and a few more turns that the other driver couldn't drift past him on. But the turn narrows at it's exit, and John had to jump on the brakes and let Keisuke slip in front of him.

Keisuke charged through the Narrows, knowing full well that John had missed his car by a few millimeters. But for all intents and purposes the race was over. Keisuke knew that the only place John could pass him now was on the straightaway. Still not wanting to give his opponent an opportunity to catch him Keisuke dashed through the turn that follows the Narrows, turning it into an inertia drift as he entered the back to back 90 degree turns. Keisuke pulled the same maneuver he had on the trip out and exited the last real turn at high speed, John close on his tail.

John knew that this was his final chance as the race would be over in less than half a minute. He put the peddle to the floor and the tachometer needle climbed into the blood zone before John shifted, again John faked taking Keisuke on the inside just before moving around him on the outside.

Before Keisuke could react John had slipped his front bumper past the rear of his FD, Keisuke mashed the gas peddle, knowing he didn't have to hold John off for long. _No he's not getting past._ Keisuke thought as they approached the last insignificant turn before the home stretch. _I've practiced to hard to lose a race on a straightaway._ Keisuke moved his car to the left slightly, putting the squeeze on John who was trying to pass on the left. John didn't relent, but kept on coming, so Keisuke moved over more, this time getting the response the he wanted.

The sound of engines could be herd growing louder in the New England night as the two racers approached the finish line of the Populatic course. Mike, Molly, and Fox along with all the spectators turned in the direction that the cars would be coming from. All conversation stopped as everyone focused on a 15 foot across piece of road.

There was a simultaneous loud roar, and startled gasp as the FD leapt from behind the trees, the GT Spyder two car lengths behind. John put on one last blitz but was unable to catch and pass Keisuke before the finish line.

"Oh shit." Fox uttered, nothing like this had happened in a long time to the Duke of Windsor. On the other side it was almost as if the members of Project D had expected the outcome that everyone had just witnessed. They all stood there cheering a little, but not acting with the enthusiasm befitting the races monumental status as some of the best racers from two continents went head to head.

John's GT Spyder rolled into the parking lot, and he shut it down. A continuous metallic ticking could be heard as the engine cooled. John took off his goggles and threw them down on the passenger seat.

"Damn it!" John swore as he stepped out of his car. "Sorry guys."

"It's alright, you did the best you could." Molly offered.

"Yeah, don't worry." Mike said off handedly as he glared across the lot at the approaching Fumihiro. "Yeah?" Mike said. When Fumihiro was in ear shot.

"Ryosuke wanted me to ask if you guys still wanted to go ahead with the third race?"

Mike looked at Molly, and then to John and Fox. If he didn't race there would always be that what if in his mind, and in the minds of all the people who had come to watch. He had to do it! The nights of following Takumi popped back into his head.

"The third race is on!" Mike said narrowing his eyes.

"Good job Keisuke." The elder Takahashi said, a feint smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. "He was good judging by how close the finish was."

"Yeah, he's very fast." Keisuke acknowledged, still smiling as Kenta jumped on his back in celebration.

"Woohoo! Way to go racing god Keisuke!" Kenta cheered.

"Get off me damn it!" Keisuke shoved the young member of Project D.

"Did he use the same tactic as Fox did to try and stop you from drifting?" Ryosuke asked.

"No he was to busy playing catch up." Keisuke responded. Just then Fumihiro walked over, a stunned look on his face.

"What did Mike say?" Ryosuke asked.

"He said the race is on." Fumihiro answered in disbelief.

"I knew he would." Was all Ryosuke said.


	11. Snake Bite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning! What happens in this chapter is pivotal to an ongoing plot line that I have developed. So please keep that in mind while reading, and reserve judgment until future volumes are posted.  
> Thanks,  
> Margrave

_ That's good.  _ Takumi thought. He wanted to race Mike possibly more than anyone there had wanted to race that night. What Ryosuke had done made sense, giving the other team the opportunity to not entirely humiliate themselves, but Takumi hadn't liked it, he wanted his chance to race.

Ryosuke looked over at his young ace, the thought that had prompted him to have Fumihiro ask whether or not the Duke of Windsor would like to go ahead with the race still in the back of his mind. _Could Takumi possibly win?_ The odds were against him, and given what they had seen from the other two races, they still had a bit to learn about the Duke of Windsor. But one thing was clear, they were fast, and the drivers only kept getting faster and faster. Ryosuke had herd rumor that Mike's car was putting out more than 400 horsepower. Even though Takumi essentially had a race motor in his 86 it only put out somewhere in the ballpark of 260 horsepower.

Ryosuke lit another cigarette, this was tough. It felt almost like he was sacrificing Takumi. There was no way Takumi could win, and Ryosuke knew it. The Cobra weighed around the same as the 86, but had almost double the horsepower. Back home Takumi had taken out many more powerful cars, Nakazato's GT-R, Lancer Evos, and many other among Japanese finest. But Takumi had always had the advantage of racing downhill, which usually negated the power advantage that these cars held, but here, he no longer held that advantage, and no amount of skill could make his car accelerate like Mike's could. It didn't look good, plain and simple. Ryosuke exhaled smoke in an expression of hopelessness.

 

* * *

Mike climbed into his Cobra and slotted the key into the ignition. He didn't want to wait to long for the race it would give him to much time to think and he needed to concentrate, he needed to win. It was a gamble to take the third race. If he lost they would almost have to start again from scratch, there would be nothing worse than a clean sweep by Project D. It would only be a disgrace if the leader of the Duke of Windsor didn't race at all.

Mike moved the shifter back and forth between first and second gear nervously. It was more of an up down motion instead of forward and back as in most cars. The motor being located so far back in the chassis meant that the transmission was further back as well, the movement of the shifter being a direct result of that. Mike pushed the gas to the floor before pushing the clutch and turning the key. The starter whirred before the mighty 351 Windsor kicked and fired. People turned in Mike's direction. Molly walked over to the driver's side of Mike's car.

"Hey Mike" Molly said as she knelt down next to the car.

"Yeah?" Mike responded looking into his girlfriends green eyes.

"Good luck, you'll do fine." She said before giving him a kiss.

"Right, you tell the guys not to worry, I'm going to win this one."

"Alright, you got it." Molly winked before turning around and going back to John and Fox. They all knew this was their best chance to prove themselves.

"Michael! A wait!" Someone yelled. Mike turned around in his seat to see Raul jogging toward him.

"Hi there Raul." Mike said.

"Hello Michael."

"I didn't think you'd make it." Mike smirked.

"Ah, of a course I'd make it." Raul grinned in response.

"Fashionably late, in true Italian fashion." Mike said and both friends chuckled.

"Of course. I hear that you are a not doing so good tonight. Fox and John, they lost?" Raul paused. "You know you can do this." Raul said.

"Yeah, I know." Mike responded.

"But you must remember the first rule of Italian driving." Raul grasped the rearview mirror mounted to the center of Mike's dashboard and gave it a yank. "A what's behind you isa not important!" Raul said tossing the broken mirror onto the passenger seat.

"What the hell did you do that for!" Mike roared.

"If I had only moved it you would have moved it back. And then you would be looking back at it all race." Raul said holding up his hands defensively. "You need to concentrate on the road ahead of you, and go at your own pace. Constantly seeing that other car in your mirror is a distraction, OK?" Raul said as he walked around the car and put the broken mirror in the passenger door pocket.

"I guess you're right, but now I have to fix that. You're next Webber tuning is going to cost you more." Mike admonished jokingly.

"Alright Michael, good luck, and go at your own pace." Raul winked and Mike moved to the starting line.

 

* * *

"What are the Project D guys thinking, sending an old Corolla hatch out there against Mike?"

"Didn't you see that thing a couple of weeks ago in Milford? That guys not human."

"I don't know, it sill looks like their conceding the race, almost like they don't want to completely show up the Dukes of Windsor."

"Yeah, that's exactly what their doing." A third kid wearing a Muegen T-shirt said. "They feel sorry because the Dukes of Windsor a being show just how slow and outdated their cars are." He said.

"Yeah, have you ever beaten them?" The first person to speak asked.

"No but I haven't raced 'em either." He said sheepishly.

"Well come see me after you race them."

 

* * *

Takumi looked over at the other car sitting next to him at the starting line. It rumbled as it sat there, he could almost see it shake. It wouldn't be like before, he would win, he would beat Mike this time. Takumi narrowed his eyes and looked down the road to where the first turn was.

"Takumi?" Ryosuke asked, kneeling down next to the 86.

"Oh hi Ryosuke?" Takumi said looking up at the leader of Project D.

Ryosuke nodded. "There's not much I can do for you." Ryosuke said. "Good luck."

"Racers ready?" The starter shouted standing off to the side of the road. Mike revved his engine and slotted the shifter into first gear. Takumi did the same as Ryosuke looked up to see the starter.

"Good luck." Ryosuke repeated to one of his aces, he thumped his hand on the roof a couple of times before walking back to the parking lot. It took a lot of effort to look confident and unconcerned as he walked away from the 86, but in the back of his mind there was still that constant thought of how outclassed even Takumi's 86 was.

Both drivers waited tensely as the spectators cleared the road. Mike checked his gauges, tachometer, temp, oil temp, oil pressure, fuel, everything was right where it should be. The motor idled perfectly, with the wonderful sound of a radical cam, and the smell of unburnt high octane exhaust. Mike put his ear plugs in, and then lowered the goggles as they prepared for the race. The sidewinder exhaust exiting right at the door made it mandatory to wear earplugs for races.

Takumi gripped the wheel of the 86, he glowered down at the electric green Cobra sitting next to him. It wasn't the worst thing that had happened to Project D since they started, the oil on the road resulting in the wreck of Keisuke's FD was the worst, but this was different. They had deceived all of Project D, and watched them as they prepared to take on the Duke of Windsor. They knew everything that they needed to take down Project D, and so far they had failed at least that made Takumi feel a little better. It was up to him to complete the clean sweep.

The starters hand went up. And he began the countdown. When he reached one his hand dropped. The engines of both cars roared and for the second time that night tires squealed on Populatic Street. For the first second or two the cars were next to each other, but the added cubic inches of the 351 Windsor V8 allowed Mike to pull ahead quickly. The hard acceleration pinned Mike back in the seat as he headed towards the first turn. Instinctively Mike went to look in his rearview mirror, and quickly realized it wasn't there. He shifted into third gear, as they went down the second straight away and towards the pair of 90 degree turns.

Takumi looked ahead as he sped towards the 90 degree turns. _He's fast._ Takumi thought as he looked at the small taillights and sparkling green paint as he played catch up to Mike and his Cobra. This was nothing new to Takumi, as almost all his races back home had started this way, he preferred it. He had never seen a car accelerate like Mike's Cobra did. Not even Nakazato's GT-R. He wasn't quit aware of it, but there was a niggling thought in the back of his mind, could he keep up.

Ahead of him the red brake lights came on, for a second or two, as Mike moved to take the first of the linked 90 degree turns. Takumi tapped the brakes, heel and tow downshifting as he set the car into a drift. As Keisuke had done a short while ago Takumi applied more gas and shifted the weight so that he reversed the direction of his drift. The display of incredible skill allowed Takumi to pick up some time, he knew that he wasn't going to get faster, or sprout wings. But by the same token, Mike's car had four wheels, and it sure as hell didn't fly either.

Mike accelerated out of the right turn that led to The Narrows, feeling good about the lead he had established. Then again it was to be expected considering the power differential between the two cars. Suddenly the dashboard was lit from behind, and again Mike went to look in his rearview mirror that wasn't there. No matter it was working. Mike concentrated on the road ahead of him. He knew Takumi was back there, the kid would always be back there, and just knowing that he was being chased by such a highly skilled driver made Mike push harder than usual. He only tapped the brakes coming into the off camber turn and quickly accelerating though it, feeling through the seat of his pants as the rear tires reached the limit of their traction. Mike backed off slightly, and hit the brakes to head downhill.

Takumi could still hear the roar from Mike's Cobra as he accelerated up the off camber turn, he was making up time, and he knew it. Takumi drifted the right hand turn, and caught sight of Mike's taillights as he started down the hill. Again at the bottom of the hill Takumi drifted the left hand turn away from the cul-de-sac, and then gripped the gradual right hand turn. Takumi shifted into third gear and stormed down the hill his sights focused on the back of Mike's car, as they sped past the Norfolk airport.

 

* * *

"What's wrong brother?" Keisuke asked in a low voice. His older brother had that faraway, contemplative look on his face.

"Huh, nothing." Ryosuke responded, exhaling smoke.

"Right I haven't seen you like this in a long time." Keisuke said again.

Ryosuke looked back at his younger brother, there was really no sense in hiding it from him. "I'm worried about this race."

"What?" Keisuke gasped.

"The power differential is too great, I'm not sure Takumi can overcome it. He has some of the most incredible innate racing skills, but all the skill in the world can't make his car move in a straight line the way Mike's does. I don't know, I feel almost like I just fed him to the wolves."

 

* * *

Takumi, not understanding his lot as sacrificial lamb followed Mike onto the first straight away. The tachometer climbed closer to eleven thousand revs. He shifted and continued his hunt for the Cobra. Up ahead Mike swung to the right so he could clip the apex of the left hand turn. Takumi was behind, but not so far back that he didn't notice when Mike had started braking. In his time with Project D Takumi had not only matured as a racer, but he had also come a long way in pinpointing the oppositions weakness, and it hadn't taken him long to see Mike's. Because Mike could hit a higher top speed, and could accelerate better, he also had to brake earlier in able to take the turns. Again Takumi narrowed his eyes as he charged after the green Cobra.

Mike clipped the apex of the left hand turn, he hit the gas accelerating hard away from the turn, the mighty Windsor V8 rumbling away into the night as he stormed across the Charles River causeway. Mike up shifted as he roared towards the next turn. Again the lights from Takumi's 86 reached Mike's car, gradually, very gradually they began to recede as the 86 couldn't keep the same pace on the arrow straight pieces of road. Mike took an almost leisurely pace as he broke for the next turn, again he moved to the outside and apexed the turn the way he had the last one. He accelerated out of the turn, knowing he needed to make the most of the straight aways.

A few hundred yards back Takumi noticed the way Mike took the turn ahead, and again Takumi noticed how he apexed the turn. There was something different that Takumi couldn't quit put his finger on, but Mike was leaving the inside completely open, without even the slightest attempt to block the inside line. _I got you now!_ Takumi thought as the Silver Top 4AG motor sang away underhood.

What Takumi didn't know, and what Mike hadn't realized was that the lack of a rearview mirror allowed Mike to think that he had a bigger lead than he actually did. This led Mike to lap the course at a more leisurely pace, not wanting to make a mistake pushing to hard. Mike broke sharply as he entered a set of quick sweepers before accelerating down the straight away again.

On the other hand Takumi flew through the same sweepers without even touching the center peddle in his car. His opportunity was coming and he knew it. At the next left hand turn, the turn at the end of the last long real straight away, Mike continued his pattern of braking and apexing the turn that he had fallen into. As they had before the lights from Takumi's car made the cockpit of the Cobra brighter as Mike slowed for the turn. All of the sudden there was a flicker of light in the mirror mounted to the let of Mike's car. He flinched as he saw the 86 grow bigger in the mirror, on exit Takumi was hot on his heels.

Having noticed the way Mike was taking the turns and combining that with the fact that Mike had to brake sooner, Takumi employed a kamikaze braking technique. He waited longer to apply the brakes, knowing that in practices they had built in sort of cushion that allowed for maneuvers like the one Takumi had just executed. When he did jump on the brakes Takumi set the 86 into a drift and exited the turn almost on Mike's bumper.

"Holy shit!" Mike uttered as he knew the 86 was right behind him. He gritted his teeth and put the gas peddle down.

Both cars blitzed the short straight section at the beginning of River Road. Mike opened a small gap in the short distance, realizing for the first time what an epic duel he was involved in. Both cars took the quick, barely noticeable left hand turn and headed for the long right hander. Mike drove deeper into the turn than John had done, so he could straighten out the line for a fast exit. Takumi moved to the inside and again set the 86 into a drift, working the wheel back and forth to shift the load of car and keep the car sliding in a four wheel drift. Mike caught sight of the 86 out the corner of his eye and knew that Takumi had gained the inside line. Mike had to lift off the accelerator and let Takumi slide inside of him, quickly jumping back on the gas again to follow the Phantom 86 of Akina through the next turn. Now with his opponent in front of him Mike was forced to realize the urgency of his position. All he could do now was play catch up.

The two cars blazed through the night, the sounds of a pair of high performance motors bouncing off the houses, trees, and just about anything else in the area creating an automotive symphony, counted pointed with the high pitched squeal of tires.

Up ahead Takumi was keenly aware of how close Mike was as he led through a series of turns. Ryosuke had led Takumi and all of Project D to believe that the opponents cars were not as good as they actually were, but then they had never seen the Dukes of Windsor in action either. Takumi led Mike down the hill by the boat landing and set the 86 into another of his flawless four wheel drifts. Mike followed closely tapping the brakes before hammering the gas again to follow the 86 ahead of him. Again Mike followed Takumi as they both flew through the gradual right hand turn at the top of the hill. The straight away that followed led to the turn around. Mike knew just trying to blow past Takumi wouldn't work, the kid was to smart for that. He would have to wait till the turn around.

Takumi remembered from the last time that Mike had followed him while practicing that his opponent would try to pass on the inside at the turn around, he wasn't going to let that happen again.

Mike poured on the power and moved to the outside hoping the maneuver would throw Takumi off, but Takumi held fast to the inside line denying Mike the opportunity to get inside of the rear of his car. There was no way for Mike to get past so he just held his Cobra glued to the rear of Takumi's car. Both cars executed the turn as fast as they could, and with roaring motors charged up the hill that followed. Again both cars gripped the gradual left hand turn. The extra power provided by the 351 cubic inches of Detroit iron allowed Mike more options than his counterpart. The extra power allowed Mike to try to pass on the outside.

Takumi still charged forward on the inside line as Mike tried to move on the outside. He shifted and the 86 continued its surge forward, but the instantaneous throttle response of Mike's Cobra allowed him to hustle past, with tires squealing at the edge of their adhesion. But Takumi found himself once more staring at the green and white rear end of Mike's car. Takumi didn't flinch as he focused on getting ahead of his opponent again. He could do it, he'd always been able to do it in the past.

The two cars roared down the hill and through the turn at the bottom of the hill, the turn that led down to the cul-de-sac, charging back up the hill. Mike knowing that his opponent couldn't be that far behind him waited until almost the last second to jump on the brakes at the top of the hill. Takumi did the same, keeping the pressure on the car ahead of him.

As the two elite racers headed towards the off camber turn Mike moved to the inside knowing that Takumi wouldn't be able to drift around him on the outside. Takumi on the other hand remembered a technique he had employed to circumvent the exposed gutter when he raced Toru in his MX-5. Using load shifting Takumi got most of the weight over the back wheels of his car, by keeping careful control of the throttle Takumi kept the weight shifted backwards, the extra traction allowed Takumi to counteract the slight down angle of the road. In a cloud of tire smoke the 86 slid past the Cobra again.

"He's insane!" Mike gasped as he saw the maneuver out of the corner of his eye. Not wanting to wreck Mike eased off the throttle for a split second and allowed the car to slide in front of him. With expert skill Takumi brought the rear end back in line and accelerated hard down the Narrows, Mike hot on his heels.

Here Takumi appreciated the Narrows, and the upcoming stretch of road, because even though he could almost feel the pressure Mike was putting on him he knew that it was near impossible to pass at the speed they were going. The two cars moved through the left hand turn, and then the right hand turn as one, both instinctively picking the fastest line.

The two cars approached the back to back 90 degree turns at high speed, jumping on the brakes at the last second Takumi drifted the first turn while Mike gripped the turn, straightening the line in preparation for the following turn in the opposite direction. The superhuman levels of concentration both drivers had made it impossible for the desperation of the end of the race to weigh on them. Driving high performance cars as close to the limits as they were keeping the car on the road took every bit of physical and mental concentration.

Takumi linked the two turns with a continuous drift while Mike gripped both turns. Mike stayed inside as he exited the last turn, he pinned the gas peddle and felt a thud in his back as the quick application of throttle catapulted him forward. The momentum of Takumi's drift sent him wider than Mike opening a hole for the Cobra to squeeze through. With the acceleration capabilities of the 351 Mike quickly overtook the 86. The roar of Mike's exhaust seemed to drown out everything else as Takumi watched the Cobra accelerate ahead of him. He put the peddle down, but was unable to catch the green Cobra as they headed to the finish.

The last turn was just as formality, at near full tilt Mike's car handled the slight turn with ease, and there wasn't enough space for Takumi to pass. It was close, but it was clear what the outcome was.

Spectators cheered as Mike crossed the finish line ahead of Takumi. It was really a hollow victory, Project D had shown up and taken two out of three races from the Dukes of Windsor that night. It had really been a race of respect from Ryosuke, giving Mike the opportunity to race and prove himself.

Takumi pulled his car into the small parking lot, and once the car had stopped he switched off the mighty 4AG. His heart sank when he realized that it was over. He hadn't lost in a long time. He fought back tears that were threatening to roll down his cheeks, not because he had lost, but because of who he thought he'd let down. _I failed._ Takumi thought. His mind swirled, people had been counting on him. The team, _The only team I've really been a part of._ He had let down all of Project D, and especially Ryosuke, the team leader, his mentor, one of the most important people to his education as a driver. The pain of letting the team down was crushing, he had disappointed Ryosuke, he knew it, he'd let everybody down. Takumi clenched his fist just before getting out of the car. He looked over to where Mike was, he was receiving congratulations from his team members, while on the other hand the members of Project D busied themselves with getting ready to leave.

Anger stirred deep within Takumi as he stood there in the warm New England night, again he clenched his fist, thinking of the other people he'd let down, not only Ryosuke, and Project D, but his father. His father whose subtle training had shaped Takumi's racing abilities, his father who had done his best to turn his son into a top caliber driver, and who had turned an old Panda Trueno into the semi race machine he now stood besides.

Natsuki, he had failed her too, the one person who he had told his dream about becoming a professional racer, he had failed her too.

Takumi's body went stiff, muscles tense as he clenched his fist again. _I won't lose again, I promise you all I will not lose again!_ Takumi silently vowed.

Ryosuke noticed his young ace standing next to his Trueno, silently. He made his way over, and from his own experience against his current team mate he knew the kid didn't have much experience losing. The leader of Project D stood next to Takumi for a moment before speaking.

"Good race." Ryosuke said, knowing that Takumi probably felt that he had let the team down. Takumi shrugged in response, fearing that if he spoke it would betray how upset he was at letting the team down. "You know you and Mike turned in the fastest times here tonight. So that makes you the fastest member of Project D." Ryosuke paused. "I'm proud of you Takumi. It was a tough race you fielded tonight, and you held your own." The words made Takumi feel slightly better.

"I hate losing." Takumi ground out, still not wanting to say how he really felt about the loss.

"I know, we all hate losing, all racers no matter where they're from hat to lose. But there is always a winner, and a loser, it's the way things happen. But the important part is that you learn from a loss, and grow as a racer. Although, to be honest Takumi this loss really is no fault of your own."

Takumi looked up at the team leader when he said that.

"From the time you ran here tonight its clear that you did everything as perfect as you could. Mike was just faster and sometimes that happens." Ryosuke patted Takumi on the shoulder. "You did good tonight." He said with a smile.

"Hey Takumi?" Mike called as he approached. Takumi and Ryosuke both looked in his direction. "Good race tonight." Mike said extending his hand. Takumi took it in his hand and shook firmly.

"Congratulations." Takumi said.

"No kid, thank you. That's the best race I've had in a long time. You're defiantly one of the best drivers I've ever faced." Mike grinned. "And Ryosuke, we're still on for tomorrow night, right."

"Of course, I'm sure we'd all like to see one of these American cruise nights. Not to mention your cars."

"Absolutely. I'm sure you'll get a kick out of our machines. See you guys tomorrow." Mike winked as he turned around. Moments latter he was back in his car and headed down the street, the other members of the Duke of Windsor behind him. Ryosuke and Takumi watched as they turned the corner and both knew that the first stage of their American trip was over, and it had been a learning experience.


	12. Cruise Control

Mike and his friends waited at the shop on the early summer afternoon. The members of Project D would be arriving soon, and boy were they in for a show, they knew for sure that the Dukes of Windsor were capable racers and had earned their reputation. The Cobra sat up on one of the lifts, the center piece of what would be the show, there was no way that Ryosuke and Project D hadn't done any research, but Mike's Cobra was not your average kit. It really was a work of automotive art.

It wasn't to much longer before the distinct sound of the Japanese high performance motors. Moments latter five of Japan's finest automobiles were sitting in the parking lot in front of the shop. Ryosuke led the group up from the parking lot, they all seemed to walk with a certain extra swagger as they approached Mike and his teammates, all except Takumi. They had earned the right, doing what no other team had done to the Dukes of Windsor, taking two out of three races on their home course. Mike noticed something else about them as well, almost all of them were carrying cameras.

There was an unbelievable tension between the two groups, Project D clearly the victor of the previous night's battle, but nothing like this had ever happened before. There had never been such an invitation to a competitor of the Dukes of Windsor before, but then they had never come up against a team as good as Project D.

"Nice of you guys to finally show up." Mike said with a smile, knowing he had to do something to try and lighten the mood. Fox was really liable to try and pick a fight with someone, he hated losing, and hated losing to Japanese cars even more.

Ryosuke shook his head in response. "We're right on time." He answered glancing at his watch.

"I know. Come here and take a look at this." Mike said, motioning them forward into the garage bay.

The leader of Project D looked up at the underside of the car, and almost without noticing it his super computer brain kicked into high gear as he absorbed as many of the details as he could. He paused when he reached the rear suspension.

"You didn't use a Mustang as a donor car, did you?" Ryosuke asked Mike.

"Uh, no." Mike said quickly, not thinking Ryosuke would know, or be able to spot the difference. Obviously he had done his homework. "Well actually very little." Mike shrugged. "I knew for best performance I had to have an independent rear end, its actually out of an SVT Mustang." Mike recovered quickly.

"Good choice." Ryosuke said, placing a hand on one of the arms of the suspension to get a good look around underneath the car, it was very well done. As he stood there looking at how Mike had outfitted his car, and he again realized how out of his league Takumi had been in the 86, in another car, with more power he probably would have won. . .

Mike couldn't help but smile at the praise from Project D's leader. "Let me bring it down and show you the engine compartment." Mike said.

Once the lift was down Mike opened the forward hinged hood to reveal the mighty lump of Detroit Iron.

"That engines huge." Kenta gasped.

"Not really." Mike said. "There are much bigger V8s out there."

"Really?" Kenta looked back with a wide eyed gaze, as most of the members of Project D looked at Mike in one way or another.

"Yeah, there were some Chevy engines that displaced 454 cubic inches, um like 7.2 litres." Mike had to think about the conversion, as he knew the visitors weren't used to dealing with engine displacements not in litre form. And a common big block sizes ranged from about 6.5 to 7 litres."

"Wow, that's huge." Kenta gasped again, thinking about what the taxes would be like on a motor that size back home.

"Well, yeah." Molly said, "but we know that cubic inches like that is not really suitable for street racing, unless it between stop lights." She winked at the member of Project D, her dark hair falling over one eye.

Nakazato looked back down at the engine bay. The motor was huge, none of them had ever seen anything like that accept in a truck, and even. . .

There was nothing that looked like provision for forced induction, or anything that would have the same effect, accept for the eight stacks nestled between the valve cover, valve covers that were curiously small for such a performance motor.

"What are those?" Nakazato finally asked pointing at the Weber stacks.

"Huh, oh those are dual choke Weber carbs." Mike answered. "They're tuned in pairs."

"So that's how you could tune that Ferrari." Ryosuke said. "I understand that they're very tough to tune."

"It is when you first start, but after you do it a couple of dozen time you get the hang of it, but its still not as easy as tuning a regular carburetor, but then again they perform better too. It also helps to have someone who knows what their doing standing over your shoulder you do it the first few times."

"No wonder this things handle really well." Ryosuke said looking at the placement of the motor. "The motor being set this far behind the front wheels must make it really balanced, and combine that with the suspension, and those tires." Ryosuke said.

"Yeah, that's what I was going for." Mike said.

"So you guys ready to eat?" John asked rubbing his hands together eagerly.

"Well we haven't thought about eating, but I suppose we could." Ryosuke answered.

"Alright then, let's go." Mike said. The members of both teams split up, it took awhile to figure out who was going to ride on what car, but eventually they figured it out, loading up Fox's Mustang and Nakazato's GT-R, so they could take fewer cars.

"This is a nice car you have here." Ryosuke said, his arm resting atop the door.

"Thanks." Mike answered, nodding to his counterpart. "I worked really hard to get it the way it is."

"Evidently its paid off. I've never experienced anything like this. Your motors s well built, and the suspension has an excellent setup." Ryosuke said has he rode along with Mike. He saw the leader of the Dukes of Windsor smile, just by riding in the car Ryosuke could tell almost everything about it, the suspension was nearly perfect, there was nothing he could think about doing to the motor, either, it was already so strong.

"Theirs nothing like it." Mike said.

No there wasn't. Never before had Ryosuke been riding in such a high performance car with the top down, the rich loud exhaust note seeming to come from his elbow, an almost continuous roar. It was tough to talk without yelling, and almost every road imperfection was felt through the stiff suspension.

Mike looked over at Ryosuke and knew he was trying to get a better understanding of how the Americans did performance. He'd read about it, studied it, but back home he had so little access to these cars, he'd never been able to fully experience it. Ryosuke saw the wry grin on Mike's face, a split second latter the car jumped forward, the engine roaring with a sound unlike anything Ryosuke had ever herd.

When the small convoy arrived at Riley's there were already many cars, the only stipulation was that the cars had to be 25 years or older, so it wasn't just wasn't American cars, but they were the majority. Almost anything could be seen, from 1920s and 1930s Model T and A Fords, to the uniquely American form of car the street rod, 50s Kustoms, muscle cars from the 60s, and maybe a handful of the graphics cars from the 70s.

The members of Project D followed the Dukes of Windsor, Ryosuke close by Mike's side, asking question and taking notes, so he could be better prepared for whoever Project D might run up against in the future. All the Japanese All stars marveled at how many cars showed up, and none of them were going to race!

There was an almost constant rumble of performance engines as the cars were constantly coming and going. The night went on, much faster than anyone had wanted. Regardless of what the Dukes of Windsor had done to gain an edge, they were good people, and all shared an affinity for performance cars and racing. Stories were swapped and embellished of course, but through the whole thing Takumi was near silent. The whole time he looked at the cars and when he ate, he was thinking about how hard he was going to practice, so that he would not lose again on the trip. They had come here to get better as racers, and establish themselves not only as Japans best, but as some of the best in the world, and he had already failed at that. And he wasn't going to fail again.

While they were eating Ryosuke continued to pepper Mike with questions about the different cars, their motors, handling, anything he could think of. Eventually he knew though that they were running out of time, and he had to ask about where they should head next.

"Mike?" Ryosuke said. Mike looked up from his roast beef sandwich.

"What's up Ryo?" Mike asked, thinking he was going to field another question about one of the cars.

"Where should we head next?"

"That's a good question." Mike chuckled. "Well, in this are you could head north. Auburn Maine, I know there's a lot of racing going on up there. After that, maybe head down south, the Carolinas, or the deep south, but stay away from the middle of the country, there's nothing out there accept flat land, straight roads, and corn. Maybe the Rocky Mountains and the West Coast. But head to Auburn that's a good place to go." Mike said.

"Thank you Mike. You've been a big help and a good challenge for my drivers. Good luck." Ryosuke said.

"Good luck to you too Ryosuke." Mike said as he walked over to his car. He reached down into the driver side door pocket and pulled something out. "Here take this as a sort of souvenir." Mike extended his hand that held a Duke of Windsor sticker, it was in the old style family crest, with the shield split into four section, accept this one only had things to do with cars. In one corner was an F in Ford script, then an 8 superimposed on a W to represent the Windsor V8 family, the bottom right section was the Cobra and Tiger Logo next to each other, and the bottom left contained a Fox, to represent the Fox Mustang.

Ryosuke studied it for a moment, and then looked back at Mike. "I look forward to hopefully seeing you in Japan sometime."

"The same goes here." Mike nodded, "Good luck Ryosuke, and show them who took two out of three races from the Duke of Windsor."

** End Volume 1 **

* * *

 

** Preview volume 2 **

Fresh off a stunning display of skill against the Dukes of Windsor Project D heads north to Auburn Maine. Again they find themselves alone, but not for long. Molly a member of the Dukes of Windsor turns up, and Ryosuke's only feeling is of apprehension, as Project D faces off against some of the best racers in the State of Maine.

Not all is well within in Project D however, Takumi is still struggling with his loss to Mike, and is more determined then ever to become a top racer. This sudden weakness also rekindles an old fire within Keisuke, as he again tries to prove that his is superior to Takumi.


End file.
